Weakness
by TheImpossiblePossibilities
Summary: Follow up of what I think happened after Arrow Episode 2x09 and what I think will happen later on in the season. For Oliver and his team there have been countless battles, but the war has just begun. Chapter 7: Genesis
1. Chapter 1

Felicity was sitting at her post, zoning in and out while twirling one of Oliver's green arrow between her fingers. She was silent, staring mindlessly at the wall, but the inner corners of her mind have been raging with thoughts.

_The other night I asked you if you liked Oliver… IF you did, I can see why. Oliver Queen. He's a billionaire by day and saves the city by night… I have a little experience liking someone who doesn't see you the same way._

Her conversation with Barry echoed in her mind. What exactly did he mean by that? Obviously she had a great deal of admiration toward Oliver, admittedly giving him a God complex at times. She cared for him deeply, fearing for his life every time he slipped his green hood on. Most of the city perceived him as a vigilante, no more than the big bads he brought in to the police or launched arrows at. Felicity knew that was just media propaganda. He was a hero. Starling City's hero. Her hero.

Felicity knew who Oliver was. She was in his ear during every operation. She knew about his scars, both the slow healing internal and the external that she saw every time he decided to train in front of her. He knew most of his island stories, although it seems lately that new ghosts have emerged from the past in the form even more women. Oliver was a man of little words, but his facial expressions spoke volumes to her. She knew him, in every way that it was possible to know a person like Oliver Queen. What she knew most of all is that for someone like her, someone who is more comfortable behind a computer screen typing away than in a cocktail dress attempting small talk, he was unattainable. She placed him on a very high inaccessible pedestal. Not, that she ever thought that there would be any possibility of a romantic relationship between them. Although admittedly the thought might have crossed her mind a from time to time on rare occasions. It is difficult to concentrate on anything else when you have a six-foot-five man with negative percent body fat drenched with sweat working on the salmon ladder. It would be difficult for any girl in her right mind to get any work done with a show like that in front of them.

But, Barry's word reverberated in her ears and filled her head. She did not feel that way about Oliver. She could not. Felicity closed her eyes and shook her head. She tried to clear her mind at of the thoughts that plagued her, and took a deep breath in and out. Her mind distracted her from the steps that were taken down the stairs into the foundry. Oliver was right behind her as she exhaled.

"Felicity," He startled her, immediately making her open her eyes and hop a few inches off her seat, "are you alright?"

"Yeah. Yep. Yes." She breathed, placing the arrow on the table and swirling her chair to face him. She had to raise her head to make eye contact with him. She smiled at him awkwardly, "Wow you're a real Ninja aren't you? What can I do for you, Oliver?"

One of the edges of his mouth curved slightly, but fades just as quickly. "Have you heard any news about the particle accelerator explosion in Central City?"

She reached for her phone and twiddled with the screen for a few moments, "I've left Barry a message or two, but he hasn't sent anything back. I'm sure everything's okay and he will contact me once the dust settles." She keeps fiddling with her phone for a minute longer.

"Felicity?" Oliver rips her from her concentrated stare into her phone. How was it that her name flowed with such ease from him? It was not just a word addressing her when it is spoken with his voice. Her name was a replacement for words he was unable, or unwilling, to say out loud. At times it was "you should really stop talking, now". Or "could you look this up for me, because I am incapable of using the internet." And sometimes, in the rarest moments, she could feel that it said "I care about you deeply." But, that was last one was probably her imagination embellishing the moment.

"Felicity?" He says it a little louder as to get her attention back.

"Hmmm," She looks at him blankly for a few seconds and then enters back into reality. "Oh, yeah. Not much has been in the media. A few scientists were badly injured, but expected to survive. I've been trying to hack into the Central City Police Department, but It's gonna take a little while." She turned back towards her computer monitors as Oliver walks beside her and rests both hands on the desk. She plays him the last news feed from outside the lab housing the accelerator. "It was a total blackout of the city. It's going to be a while before they get their systems back on."

Oliver nods in understanding. "And how are you?" Felicity replays the question in her head and looks up at him, who had his eyes locked on her. Their gazes meet for a few seconds, their faces close enough to feel each other's breath. Felicity's heart begins to beat a little faster and decided to break the eye contact.

Pushing herself back a few inches in her chair to gain distance she sighs under her breath with an awkward little laugh. "Other than super soldiers injected with a miracle serum that makes them invisible, with concrete muscles and bull like strength who know who we are but we are still baffled by who they are getting their orders from, that may or may not be building an army for total world domination with Sterling City as ground zero. I'm doing okay. Got new polish." She gave her best attempt at spirit fingers, flaunting her new emerald green enamel.

Oliver nodded and gave her the faintest smile. "Matches your dress." She looked down at her clothes and nodded with a fleeting smile. He grabbed a chair and pulled it close to hers as he sat down. He gave an inaudible sigh and stared at the flashing screens. "We'll think of something. We always do." His eyes went in and out of focus a few times and he had to close them to regain visibility. As he opened them he looked at the brilliant woman beside him whose smiling face had slowly grown to one of concern. He placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Felicity could feel the heat that was imitating from his hand through her thin shirt and she realized how cold she had actually been. "I've dealt with this before on the island. It won't be easy, but they can be defeated."

"About that, you haven't elaborated as to how exactly you were able to defeat them." She turned towards him and leaned in as if sharing a secret. "How did you defeat an army that was literally undefeatable?"

Felicity could see a look on Oliver's face that she has seen many times before. He was experiencing an island flashback. From the looks of it, it was not one of the lesser of the bad memories. "We fight. Until the last breath and hope that it's theirs and not yours." His eyes wandered before catching her gaze once more. "No one is invincible; we just have to find their weakness. Everyone has a weakness."

His gaze grew heavy and Felicity could see the pain behind them. What things he must have gone through in those five years. "Does that mean the all-powerful Oliver Queen, billionaire with a hero complex has a weakness as well?" She smiled trying to lighten the somber mood. "Do tell."

"Let's hope they never find who my weakness is." He glanced back at Felicity who was already looking at him. He gave her a momentary smile and his face returned to its normal amount of melancholy.

Felicity's phone began to vibrate and their gaze was broken once again. Before she could reach for it Oliver read the name 'Barry' on the message. He quickly raised himself from the chair and tucked it into the desk. "Tell me if anything comes up about the explosion and when the power to Central City returns." He began to walk to the stairs and Felicity's eyes traced his steps as he moved. He paused before climbing the stairs into the club and turned to face Felicity. "Say hello to Barry for me. And… Thank him for the mask." He turned and headed back towards the club.

Felicity was still enveloped in the conversation that had just taken place. _"Let's hope they never find who my weakness is"_. Did that mean that Oliver, the Arrow, had something that they could use as leverage against him? And that thing is actually a who?

Felicity went down the list of possible people. His family is an obvious one; his mother and Thea. Laurel has been used to cast him out a few times. Sarah could also be a possibility, if they could ever find or trace her back to him. Diggle is another obvious choice. And then there was her. Felicity has been in the line of fire a few times before and The Arrow has come to rescue the damsel in distress, a term she did not want to be labeled as. Oliver broke his vow to Tommy in order to save her, something she felt an incredible amount of guilt towards.

_He was going to hurt you. There was no choice. _

Felicity was grateful to have had the chance to keep breathing, that her archer in green armor came to save her. But she could not forgive herself for being the reason that Oliver killed again. And she would not be able to live if she was the reason that he died. That is why there was no chance that she was the '_who'_ he was referring to. She felt nothing for Oliver. She nodded and took a deep breath as if it would magically make that statement true. She attempted to erase any possible Oliver and Felicity k-i-s-s-i-n-g thoughts, at least for the next five minutes.

Felicity leaned in toward the desk and reached for her phone. Barry's message was still flashing on the screen. Relaxing in her chair she opened it.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a chilly Christmas Eve afternoon, and Oliver was turning off all the lights at the foundry one by one. Diggle had just wished both of them a Merry Christmas and given them both their gifts before leaving to meet up with Lila. Felicity got a beautiful blue scarf; very close to the color of the TARDIS from the show she had introduced to Diggle a few weeks ago. He could tell how much Felicity had enjoyed the marathons of Doctor Who that they had and wanted to give her something that represented that time they spent together.

Oliver got a pair of silver cufflinks with a small green arrow painted on each one. Inside he had engraved _never miss your target_. "Advice for archery and life I would say," Diggle had remarked with a wink and a smile as Oliver opened the gift box and read the words.

Once Diggle left, it was just Felicity and Oliver turning off monitors and electronics before both heading out their separate ways. Felicity opened a drawer next to her post and took out a leather bound journal, very much like the one Oliver's father had written the names of those that needed justice in his city. "Before I forget Oliver," she walked toward him and handed him his gift. "I figure new year, new you right? It's somewhere to write about the good you're doing in this city. Instead of the multiple hit lists your dad decided to use the pages for." She gave him a smile and waited for his reaction.

Oliver traced the marks on the leather with his fingertips and was amazed that Felicity was able to find an exact replica of his father's journal. He smiled looking at the book in his hands. "Thank you, Felicity." Still smiling he reached into the pocket of a jacket that was hanging on the chair beside him and pulled out a small green box. "Merry Christmas." He handed her the box gently, waiting in anticipation for her response to what it housed.

"You didn't have to get me-," Felicity began to say as she gently loosened the white ribbon and opened the box. "Wow." Inside was a beautiful gold necklace with a large green emerald handing from the chain, surrounded by little white diamonds. "This is too much, Oliver. This is beautiful."

Still in shock about her surprise, Oliver decided to take the box from Felicity's hand and unclasp the necklace as he slid behind her. He placed it gingerly around her neck and locked the clasp. He then walked to his original spot in front of her. Felicity looked down and saw the contrast of the emerald and her ivory skin. "It suits you."

She looked up and caught Oliver smiling at her, and she gave him a smile in return. She could see that he was proud of his choice in jewelry, with good reason, and could tell that asking him to take it back would not be the thing at that point. "Thank you. I love it." She placed a hand on the rock hanging on her neck and jumped into Oliver's arms in a warm embrace. He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes, feeling at peace for the few seconds that the hug had lasted.

After all the lights were off and everything was closed for the night they walked out of the basement together. Oliver asked Felicity if she wanted him to walk to her apartment with her. She thanked him, but said that she had to make a few quick stops before everything closed for the night.

As she left, Felicity turned and took a few steps toward Oliver. Raising herself on her toes, she brushed her lips on his cheek. "Merry Christmas Mr. Queen."

She smiled and turned to exit the club, leaving a smile on Oliver's face as he watched her walk onto the street. "Merry Christmas Mrs. Smoak."

Before locking the doors, he noticed that there was a small box on the bar counter that was not there before. He walked towards it and saw that it was wrapped with a dark green paper and tied with the same color ribbon. It had a tag that read _Oliver_. He looked around for a few seconds to see if he had missed someone that was there, but he was the only living thing in the club.

He pulled at the ribbon and the knot unraveled. Removing the cover, he looked curiously inside the box. Immediately after seeing what was inside, he put on a defensive stance and dropped the box cover to the floor, taking a closer look at his surroundings. This lead him to the same conclusion, he was alone. Inside was a single bullet, with a piece of paper beside it. Oliver reached inside for the parchment, and unfolded it.

_ Soon it will be time to choose, my friend. _


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so firstly thank you all so much for the comments. I am taking them to heart, watching my tenses and doing my research. I am really enjoying this writing experience. I feel like I might be boring you guys with this constant uploading, but write while the inspiration is there, right? **

**I don't know what I think about this chapter. I started confident, and by the middle I was questioning whether it was the right approach to take. So I'm saying it now, that I may edit this chapter. But, I wanted to show you where my head was at and where I wanted the story to go. I hope you guys have as much fun reading as I do writing. I know I love all the amazing stories I've read so far authored by you guys! **

**Enjoy! **

_Soon it will be time to choose, my friend _

Oliver reread the hand written note over and over again, until he had memorized every curve of every letter and the paper had become soft and warn in his hands. It had been a week since he had received the unwelcomed gift. He had sent the bullet that accompanied the note to Barry and asked him to run it for fingerprints.

"There is no trace evidence that I can find on the bullet, Mr. Queen." Barry explained that it had been either wiped clean or handled with extreme care. "This particular type of bullet was used during World War II, but most public records have been lost for ammunition of this kind. The arms company that created the bullet was stationed off the cost of China, but it no longer exists. What I found interesting was the characters on the bullet casing. I was able to translate it. It is mandarin for purgatory. Does that mean anything to you?"

"Thank you Mr. Allen. You've done great work. That's all I needed."

Oliver lowered the phone from his ear, but could still hear Barry speaking. "Could you say hello to Felicity for me? I called her yesterday about the New Year's party, but she hasn't returned my call." Oliver was paying no attention as to what Barry was saying. To him the conversation was over. A chill traveled down his spine when he heard the translation. He had recognized the mandarin characters on the bullet, but needed confirmation that it was not his imagination playing tricks on him… or another hallucination. The characters read Lian Yu.

_ Lian Yu Island, 4 years ago_

Everything happened so quickly. Slade was injected with the serum. He died. Oliver, Shado, and Sarah were captured. Ivo Shot Shado. Shado died. Within ten minutes Oliver had lost the two most important people on that island.

The echo of the shot that took Shado's life rung in Oliver's ears, temporarily deafening him. He collapsed to the ground and felt all desire to live begin to slip away. Then he heard something. First it was swift footsteps hitting the ground and shaking the earth below him. Screaming followed that, with the sound of metal cracking and bodies flying around him. By the time Oliver had raised his head to see what was happening, Ivo's soldiers were lying in pieces around him and Slade was beside Shado's body, draping her around his shoulders.

"Why?" He demanded holding Shado's lifeless body close to him, his face stained with her blood.

"I-," Oliver began, but was unable to finish his statement.

"Ivo just shot her. He didn't say why," Sarah explained to Slade, but he barely registered her answer.

Raising himself off the ground, he looked down at Shado, tears leaving trails on his cheeks. "Whoever did this to her, is going to suffer," he declared and began to walk into the jungle with Shado in his arms.

Oliver, still in disbelief of the events that have just unfolded, struggled to raise himself off the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back. Once he was on his feet, he raced to Slade's side.

"How are you-? Slade, you were -," he tried to finish a sentence, but the combination of the adrenaline and his heart pulsating so fast that it felt as if it was pushing itself through his chest, prevented him.

Slade continued forward, his eyes on Shado the whole time. Oliver looked closer at Slade's face. His burns were completely healed; there was not a scratch on him. Only the blood of the men he had dismantled just minutes before stained his clothes.

"Slade?" Oliver tried to stop him by placing a hand on his shoulder, but Slade walked on.

"Slade." Oliver said slightly louder, but his voice didn't register.

Oliver stopped walking and watched Slade walk in front of him. He took a few quick breaths, and a final deep inhalation. "SLADE!" He screamed. Slade took a few more steps and then stopped walking. A little astonished that that it had worked, Oliver took quick strides to catch up to him. Slade's eyes were still fixed on Shado's lifeless face. "There was nothing that I could have-," Oliver was rarely out of words. But, he did not know what to say to his friend. "Nothing I could have done."

"There is always something that could have been done, kid." Slade said under his breath. He raised his eyes and met Oliver's. "Have I taught you anything, Oliver?! Have we taught you anything?" His eyes went from Shado back to Oliver. "They have destroyed everything. They destroyed her." His breathing slowed down and his back straightened. "I will destroy their world as they did mine." He turned to an opening in the brush and began walking forward again, disappearing in the distance.

Oliver had looked into Slade's eyes before he turned away from him. He had seen an emptiness that had never existed before. There was a cold abyss behind the browns of his eyes. Behind the darkness, a small flame had ignited and began to rage, feeding off his anger. Vengeance burned inside him.

_ New Year's Eve, Present Day_

It had been a long day. Between the meetings with the shareholders at Queen Consolidated in which he had to withstand multiple piercing glares by Isabel and having patrolled the streets of the Glades in search of Mirakuru, Oliver was left strained and exhausted. But, there was still more to do. The annual Queen Consolidated New Year's party had to be attended by all major shareholders and employees. He had managed to slip into one of his suits, reluctantly, and made it to the gala with the assistant of Diggle.

"Just two hours to go, Oliver." Diggle declared to Oliver as they walked into the building. "Any resolutions… Other than putting the wrath of God into people who fail the city?" He smirked at Oliver, hoping for a positive reaction. What he got was a small smile that soon faded.

"It seems like every year holds the same results, more questions than answers." He was searching through the crowd for someone who he had not spotted yet.

"We'll get those answers Olive. Together." He looked at his friend's troubled face. "Is there something inside that head of yours that you'd like to share?"

Oliver looked at Diggle and saw that he recognized that there was something amiss with him. He shook his head, "Not until I have more information. You will be the first to know." He smiled at him and hoped that Diggle would drop it.

Diggle got the hint and padded him in the back, "Well then, in the meantime, I'm gonna need a drink." He pointed to a waiter holding champagne cups and began to walk towards him.

Oliver smiled and nodded, still scanning the crowd. "Hello, Oliver," He turned to address who was behind him. It was Isabel. "I see you've made it this evening, after today's unsavory meeting." She squinted at him slightly. "How… spirited of you."

"Whatever contracts were broken in that meeting Isabel, were with good reason. Tomorrow is another day and new alliances will be made. What you call a failure, I believe was a success." Out of the corner of the room, he spotted who he was searching for. Dressed in a floor length ball gown that made her look as if she had stepped out of a fairy tale, Felicity stood awkwardly staring at her phone. Oliver gave a genuine smile and caught her eye. She smiled back at him, giving him a wave hello. He turned toward Isabel, "If you excuse me." He walked away, ignoring the irritated look that was left on her face.

"Fancy meeting you here." Felicity beamed at Oliver. "Come here often?"

"Not by choice," He said widening his eyes to what was before him. "How are you, Felicity?"

"I'm… here. Barry was supposed to meet up with me, but something came up and he had to flash back to Central City." She said glancing at her phone.

Oliver saw her disappointment, and took her phone from her hands. "No need for this then." He smiled, "Well, it seems your alone. I also happen to be alone. Would you like to be alone together?"

She gave him a little laugh. "Well, I thought you'd never ask."

They spoke. They drank. They laughed. The burdens that weighted heavy on both their shoulders had lifted, if only for a few hours. As the night came to an end and the countdown began, everyone gathered on the main floor to watch the timer countdown on a large screen in the center.

Twenty…. Nineteen… Eighteen...

Felicity lost her balance slightly and was caught by Oliver before she could fall. She gave an awkward laugh as she readjusted her position, "Always saving me from falling, Oliver."

"As long as you're there to fall, I'll always be here to catch you Felicity." He said, surprising both her and himself.

Seventeen… Sixteen… Fifteen…

Someone bumped Felicity from behind and she gets pushed into Oliver. She steadies herself by placing one hand on his shoulder. "Thank you for that. I guess I keep falling for you…. I mean falling around you. Literally, not figuratively falling." She tried to clarify herself, only making it worse.

Ten… Nine… Eight…

Oliver takes a step toward her. The hand that had been on his shoulder slips to the back of his neck.

Seven… Six… Five…

She blinks a few times, trying to take her hand back, but is unable to. "Oliver?"

"Felicity?" There he was again. One word with a thousand meanings.

Four… Three… Two…

"Mr. Queen?"

"Miss. Smoak?"

One…

In unison the crowd screams Happy New Year! Surrounded by a celebratory crowd, Oliver and Felicity stood, gazing into each other's eyes.

High above the crowd, hidden by the shadow he sat. Watching. Waiting.


	4. Catching Blood

**Alright, this one took a bit more effort. I've never written action sequences (they are pretty difficult to write, so it seems). I think I really brought out Felicity in this one, probably because I think and speak and am as clumsy as she is. If you don't understand what the time intervals are, it's that the story begins in the "present" and goes back to the beginning of the day to explain how they got where they were. I hope that isn't confusing, but it's how it happened in my head. **

**Thanks for the great comments. I really do love reading them. **

**Also, this one is a little dark, be warned. But it had to be done for what is to come…..**

"Oliver, third door to your left." Oliver ran past the rooms until he reached the door Felicity had indicated.

"It has an electronic lock, Felicity."

"Almost there." Felicity was behind her monitors, typing away trying to decode the lock and to let Oliver into the room.

Two guards approached Oliver from behind and began to scream for him to not move. Pulling his hood down he turned to face them. "You're going to regret this." He looks up at the guards as they pounce on him. In one fell swoop, he lowers himself to the ground and trips one guard from behind and hits the other with his bow. He discharges two arrows that pierce around one of them and nail him to the wall. The other begins to raise himself off the ground. Oliver turns and slams the staff of his bow on his head, rendering him unconscious. He returns to his original stance and exhales a steady breath. "I warned you."

"Yes." Felicity gave her usual fist bump in the air and paused. "I have to stop doing that." She pointed to raised hand.

"Felicity!" Oliver tried to regain her attention and focus her on the mission.

Felicity lowered her hand to the keyboard and continued typing. "Okay, the tracking device you slipped on him indicates that he's in that room. There are five heat signatures in there, two on each side and one in the center." She typed a few more things. "Stopping the air flow into the room… now. Dig, you can release the gas."

"Copy that. Releasing gas." Diggle turned the nobs on the aerosol canisters labeled Fentanyl. "They'll be knocked out in about thirty seconds Oliver, get ready."

The three have seen firsthand how incredibly strong and fast these super soldiers were. Oliver's arrows barely penetrated their skin. His blows barely left a mark. They were like titanium shells. Even when they did manage to hurt one of them, the healing processes seemed to be accelerated and they would just dust themselves off and keep fighting. But, Felicity had a brilliant idea. A sedative had to be administered with the serum in order for the host to survive the injection process. She believed that perhaps sedatives could be given to soldiers to incapacitate them to some degree. Since needles would probably bend and snap against their skin, gas was their only option.

Oliver was completely silent outside the door. He heard a loud thud, followed by another and another. "Okay, the gas should have dissipated from the air by now." He heard Felicity's voice in his ear. The light on the door lock went from red to green. He stepped forward and grabbed the nob, ready to enter. "Oliver, be careful." Felicity said with concern over the coms. Oliver smiled, took a deep breath, and entered the room.

_24 hours earlier_

"Tell me again so I can fully understand," Diggle asked Oliver while pinching the bridge of his nose in equal parts frustration and disbelief. "He was wearing a mask made out of, what?"

"Patches of skin, stitched together." Oliver recalled what he had seen in the basement when he saved Roy and fought against Gold. "He was using a voice scrambler; I wouldn't be able to identify him by speech."

Felicity leans in toward Oliver and Diggle, who were supporting themselves with the desk behind them. "So we're basically dealing with a mad scientist who thinks he's Leather Face?" They both look at her, and she shrugs. "Just saying out loud what you both are thinking. Do you remember anything else? Something in the room? Something he might have said to figure out who this guy is? It's pretty much a dead end to search for men with masks made of other people's skin. No pun intended."

"The room had a refrigerator filled with blood and centrifuge with green vials. Probably the serum." He searched his memory for something relevant. "When he injected Roy he called him brother. Gold too." He looked at both of them to see if something had been sparked.

Felicity turned around and began to type away with the little information that Oliver had provided, doubtful that she would find something.

Diggle stood up and stretched his back when something came to him. "An old friend of mine from another life dealt with a cult leader that used to call his followers brother. He used to feed off their admiration and kill anyone who turned against them. It was some pretty nasty stuff, from what I heard."

"Did it happen to be called Church of Blood?" Felicity mentioned, turning her head slightly to look at Diggle. He nodded and both men approached her chair to look at what she had found in the all-knl internet. "Apparently they _are_ involved in some pretty nasty stuff. They're your basic brainwashing and zombie creating bunch. Seems like they've done an upgraded with this serum business."

"Someone has to be supplying him with it." Oliver said aloud, leaning into one of the monitors in hopes that some answer would arrive as a pop up.

"I can't tell you that. But, it says here from a number of police reports that people have been disappearing after donating blood in one of the drives funded by this Sebastian Blood. Twelve people so far. It makes sense; you have to be somewhat healthy to be able to give blood. Ripe pickings for potential candidate."

Oliver walked to the desk behind him and took his blazer off. "Seems like were gonna donate some blood Dig. Hope you're not afraid of needles."

_Present _

Oliver opened the door and charged his bow in succession. He scanned the room carefully. There was a man strapped to a chair in the center of the room, with blood draining from his eyes. He had been injected already. Two larger men were lying on the floor around the chaired individual. The room looked like an ordinary examining room, if a doctor decided to meet patients in the dead of night and enjoyed unsterilized surfaces and concrete. A tray with a few empty vials was beside one of the unconscious men. Oliver walked to him and saw that there was one vial half filled with the green serum. He picked it up and tucked it into his pocket.

"Oliver there are two moving heat signatures; ones headed your way fast and the other is running in the opposite direction towards the back exit."

"Diggle."

"I'm there." Diggle understood Oliver's one word command to follow the one that was leaving the building.

Oliver felt the ground beneath him shake slightly. He looked around him and the equipment around him was vibrating as well. The tremor of the ground was getting more violent. "Oliver!" Felicity screamed through his ear piece. Just then, a large man burst through the room's side door and pushed Oliver into the wall. His body sliced through the concrete wall behind him. As he attempted to get back on his feet in between the rubble, the large man approached him and with one hand raised him above his head. He laughed under his breath and threw him like a baseball through another two walls. Oliver raised his head from his lying position and saw the man a few hundred yards in front of him. He tried once more to raise his body, but was unable to. His hands slipped from underneath him and his entire body was in pain. He lay there staring at the celling, with various pipes above him, feeling the pulsation on the floor as the man stepped towards him.

_18 hours earlier_

Diggle pulled up to the building where the blood drive was taking pace. It was a small one story structure in the Glades squeezed in-between a few apartment complexes. Outside, hanging from each side of the entrance door were two banners with the mayoral candidate Sebastian Blood. Below a smiling picture of Blood it read_ Help Save the City._

"There have been multiple police reports of people disappearing after giving blood at this location," Felicity informed them through their ear piece. "It says here that they have been giving those who donate psych evaluations too. Didn't know you had to be right of mind to give blood."

"It's reminds me of something they do when they evaluate you to join the military. To check if you're all there. The blood donation may be a front as a physical evaluation. They're recruiting." Diggle commented while opening the door for Oliver.

The small makeshift clinic was not out of the ordinary. There were a few volunteers drawing blood from people that were sitting down, a receptionist taking down every ones name and age, and pamphlets on the _dos and dont's of giving blood._ "Hello," the woman behind the desk greeted Oliver and Diggle. "Here to become a soldier for the city?" She held out a clipboard with a questionnaire for both of them.

The two men looked each other and smiled at the woman. "That's exactly what we are here for." Oliver grabbed both clipboards and handed one to Diggle. They both sat down on chairs beside her desk and began filling them out. "Felicity, I need a layout of this building. Rooms that they may be hiding something."

"On it," Felicity began to search for rooms with no windows and isolated from the rest of the building.

"For the most part this looks pretty normal, Oliver." Diggle turned the page on the questionnaire, scanning the room around him for anything that was out of place.

"Mr. Queen." Oliver and Diggle looked up from their packets to see Sebastian Blood standing in front of them with Laurel by his side. "I see you've come to help donate." He extended his hand towards him, with his patented smile. "I'm glad you've joined our cause, Mr. Queen. You've become a soldier for the better good."

"Ofcourse." Oliver's eyes drifted from Blood to Laurel who was standing beside him with folders in her hand. "Nice to see you Laurel." He gave her a smile.

She gave him a faint smile back and turned toward Blood handing him a folder. "We better go Mr. Blood. We have a meeting in a half an hour." She turned back to Oliver and Diggle. "Oliver. ." She nodded at both of them and began to head out the door.

"If you excuse me, campaigning duties call." He smiled and nodded to both of them. Turning toward the exit, he felt a hand holding his arm. It was Oliver who had raised himself from his chair to stop him.

"Mr. Blood, I've heard about the multiple people who have gone missing from the Glades after donating here. One of the people was a friend of my sisters. Have you any idea of what has been happening?" Oliver asked still holding on to Blood's arm.

Blood turned to face him, raising his arm to loosen the tight grip Oliver had on it, and sighed. "It is a tragedy. But this is the Glades, where people go missing everyday Mr. Queen. At least they did their part in saving this city. For that, they will be remembered as brothers and sisters. Now, if you excuse me." He smiled once more, and proceeded to leaving.

"I've took a look at the building blueprint and there is no room that could be used for serum injection. They must find candidates here and transport them to another facility." Felicity informed them.

Oliver glanced at Diggle and could see that they both had similar thoughts. "I have an idea of someone who might lead us there. Felicity, can you activate the tracker I just slipped on Blood." Oliver grabbed his clipboard and the one that Diggle was holding as well. He handed both of them to the receptionist. "I am sorry, something came up. Well, be back another time." He signaled to Diggle and they both left before the woman could say anything.

_Present_

Oliver could hear the footsteps approaching him. He tried to steady his breathing to help with the pain. He closed his eyes and remembered what Tommy had said to him the last time he was in a situation like this.

_ I know I called you a murderer, but you're not. You're a hero. Get up and fight Oliver!_

The memory of his friend ignited a fire in Oliver. He couldn't feel the pain anymore. He could only hear Tommy's Voice. _Fight!_ Oliver raised himself off the ground and grabbed his bow. He loaded and discharged his arrows in rapid sequence. Some of them bounced off the large man's chest, a few went through his leg. Oliver threw his bow to the side and began to hit him, fast and hard. It took the man back a few steps, but made him even angrier. He grabbed Oliver from the neck and raised him high walking forward. Oliver kicked him a few times in the chest, but it did nothing. His grip was getting tighter around his neck. Oliver began to feel himself slip away and his eyes drifted upward. Above him he saw a small pipe that read _DANGER HIGH PRESSURE_. He raised his arms and grabbed the pipe, hitting the large man with his feet and driving him backward, losing the grip on Oliver's neck. Oliver pulled down with everything he had, and the pipe burst. He angled the contents of the pipe toward the large man's face and he began to scream. It was burning his skin. He dropped on his knees holding his face, and fell forward.

"Oliver, are you okay?" Felicity yelled through the earpiece, trying to get an answer.

"Yeah," Oliver said out of breath. "Where's Dig?"

"Back entrance." Felicity informed him, with a relieved tone.

Oliver took another look at the large man, now lying lifeless on the floor. He nodded, reassuring himself that what he just did had to be done. Grabbing his bow, he ran to the back entrance.

_3 hours earlier_

"Anything yet?" Oliver asked as he walked in to the foundry with Big Belly Burgers for all of them.

"Nothing. Are we sure about this Oliver? I understand that feeling you got at the clinic about him, I got it too. But is that enough to speculate that Blood is responsible for all this?" He turned his chair to face Oliver as he entered and passed him a burger.

"Dig's right, Oliver. He's got a lot to lose." Felicity commented.

"He's got more to gain. A mayoral candidate that speaks about the Glades being abandoned and thieves looking to make a quick buck on the misery of the people that live there all while he is stealing the lives of innocent people and putting them through science experiments. He has to be stopped." Oliver looked at his watch. It had been an eventful day, but things were just about to get more interesting.

An alert popped up on one of Felicity's monitors and she turned from her burger consumption to read it. "Here's something. He had been moving from place to place, all within public areas. He had an especially long meeting with a gun control advocate at Salts. I wonder who paid the bill for that dinner, am I right?" She looked at Diggle and Oliver, but there was no response. "Yeah, me neither. Well the tracking device is indicating that he just pulled up at an abandoned building near the quarry. Guess who it was formally owned by?"

Oliver waited for an answer, clearly not in the mood to play the guessing game. Felicity turned to face both of them and smiled. "Give you a hint, starts with an A and ends with -rgus."

"Good work Felicity." Oliver took a step towards her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Haven't let me down yet." Felicity gave him a smile and a nod and he turned to reach for his bow. "Time to suit up."

_Present _

Opening the rear exit door, Oliver stepped out to see Diggle holding the man in the mask at gun point. He was kneeling on the ground and began to laugh when he spotted the Arrow approaching him.

"Just in time for the party," Diggle turned slightly to spot Oliver walking past him.

Oliver approached the masked man and readied his bow. "Who supplied you with Mirakuru?" The masked man did not answer, he only continued to laugh. "What was your plan for the Glades?" Oliver screamed at him, removing his mask and revealing something he already suspected. "Why are you doing this Blood?"

His face was bruised and bloody from the blows that Diggle had to give him to cooperate. He looked up at Oliver and continued to laugh. "There is a bigger plan; there is always a bigger plan. We are rebuilding this city where we are all equals. We are making this city better. It's more than you have ever done." He attempted to get up but was pushed back on his knees by Oliver's hand.

"Who_ is_ we?" Oliver asked him.

He gave Oliver a smile. "Oh, he is an old friend of yours. He has great plans for you, _Arrow_."

Oliver looked at Diggle who was just as confused as he was. "You're wrong Blood. This city needs help to rebuild, but not yours." He armed his bow and pulled back aiming it at Blood. "You have failed this city."

"I was not the first to wear the mask, and I will not be the last." Blood continued laughing. All of a sudden a black arrow rushed past both Diggle and Oliver and pierces Blood through the center of his left eye. Both men spun to survey the surrounding buildings, but could not see where it had been fired.

They turned back to the man that was before them. He lied there, in a pool of his own blood, clutching his mask with both hands.

TO BE CONTINUED


	5. Unprotected

**Alright, sorry this took a few days to write. I think for the most part, its a pretty good chapter. I have all these amazing one liners that go through my head when I see Manu (Slade/Deathstroke) on the screen. Mostly because I think of him as Crixus. **

**I love the comments you have left me, like I have said before. I tried to oblige with some Olicity moments, but I want it to be a paced relationship that they build. I feel that that's the more suited approach to what they have both in the show and in my little story here. **

**As always, enjoy my little archers!**

* * *

_SOMEWHERE IN STARLING CITY_

The corridor was dark, with the occasional wall light that allowed for a minimal range of vision. The woman walked quickly, nearly tripping a few times on the large red carpet that outlined the floor. When she reached the large redwood doors, she paused before opening them. She swallowed whatever fear that could be detected on her face, took a deep breath, and stepped inside the large office.

_Starling City has lost another warrior in the war to save the Glades. Sebastian Blood, a candidate for the mayoral seat this upcoming election, was found dead just a few hours ago. The police have not disclosed information as to the mode in which he died, but this reporter speculated that it is at the hands of yet another vigilante copycat. When will the people of this city be free of the tragedies that stain their streets? With the anniversary of the unforgettable earthquake that destroyed nearly half of the Glades and took countless innocent lives with it approaching fast, it seems like the curse of Starling City is to be scarred by the past and continue to feel pain in the future. For WBGC News 7, I'm Lucas Carr, back to you._

Just as the woman approached his desk and the news anchor finished his broadcast, Slade turned his monitor off.

"That was-," the woman took a deep breath to steady her voice, "that was the reason I came to talk to you, sir. The Arrow has killed Brother Blood."

Slade picked a piece off his chess board and gazed at it with interest. "Blood was disposable." He squeezed the chess piece in his hands and crushed it. The only evidence that it had ever existed now dust floating in the air. "A pawn to get to the Queen."

The woman blinked rapidly, trying to focus on her heart beat. "What would you like us to do now, sir."

"The game is yet to be won. Replace Blood, I'm sure there are plenty of power hungry people waiting to be feed." He raised his eyes to the woman in front of him. He could sense her heartbeat racing and see the droplets of perspiration on her forehead. He smiled at the power of his presence. "Accelerate the plan. It's time to capture some of his pieces. "

* * *

Oliver had managed to grab a vial he had found in the examination room last night and wanted an analysis of the serum that was inside. "I'm going to need some help for this, Oliver. It's far beyond my technical expertise." Felicity had mentioned to him when they began the chemical analysis. He reluctantly agreed for her to call Barry to return to Starling City to assist them. He had seen the happiness that entered her face when he had agreed, and it pained him to see that it was Barry that had brought a smile to her face and not him. He brushed the thought out of his mind quickly, there were much more pressing matters to attend to. But, the ache in his chest remained as she answered her phone and giggled at one of Barry's jokes.

"Oliver, do you mind if I take the car to pick Barry up from the train station? He'll be there in two hours." Felicity asked as she approached a motionless Oliver as he dazed into nothingness.

"Hmmm," He had to replay her question in his mind to answer. "Yes, that's not a problem. Diggle will take you." She began to protest that she was able to drive herself, but she felt it was no use in arguing with him.

They arrived at the train station half an hour early. "I'll be waiting here Felicity, when you two come out." Diggle signaled to the area where taxis were allowed to park.

Felicity nodded and smiled, "Thanks again Dig." She stepped out of the car and proceeded to enter the train station. She looked at her phone, and was about to text Barry when she heard her name being yelled from the distance.

Barry ran to her side and greeted her with a hug. "Hi Felicity." He was beaming at her as he released her from the embrace.

"Barry, I've never seen you early for something. Wasn't your train scheduled to arrive in twenty-five minutes?" She glanced at her watch again, to make sure she hadn't misread the time.

Barry placed a hand on her shoulder and directed her to the exit. "Felicity_," _He began to talk, "_I was going to wait for this. I should definitely wait for this."_ He started talking to himself as they reached an alley behind the train station. He saw that Felicity was growing concerned and ushered her deeper into the corridor. Once they reached a point where he saw no one and no one would see them he turned to Felicity whose face was perplexed. "I-I have to show you something Felicity. The night that the particle accelerator was turned on, something happened."

Felicity looked at him, still confused. "Yeah, it blew up and caused a city wide blackout that lasted three days."

Barry shook his head. "No. I mean yeah that did happen. But, something also happened to _me. _I was… changed." Barry looked back at Felicity's face, and it still held the same expression. He began to pace up and down a short strip of the alleyway. "I don't know how it happened. My hypothesis is that some sort of electrical storm was created when the accelerator was launched, causing the blackout. It must have been a combination of the chemicals that I had in my lab. The propenolmagnesium bromide and the iodine sulfate," He paused and pointed to Felicity, "see what I told you about chemical safety?" He continued rabbling on, "Then the electrical storm, the lightning bolt, must have created enough energy for a simultaneous chemical reaction to take place-"

"Barry!" Felicity grabbed him from his shoulders and turned him toward her, "last time I checked I didn't have a chemistry degree in particle physics. Tell me what happened in a more dumbed down version."

Barry shook his head again, "It would be easier to show you." He removed his bag from his arms and placed it on the ground. He took a deep breath and got into running position, but paused and turned to face Felicity once again. "Try not to freak out, too much." He nodded and returned to his former position.

A blast of air took Felicity by surprise, and blew her hair behind her shoulders. She looked around and could not see where Barry had gone. A second blast of air arrived and Felicity blinked. Barry was standing in front of her with a rose pressed between his fingers. He offered it to her and she accepted, with her mouth agape. "How did you do that?" She looked at the rose in her hand for a few seconds and raised her eyes to meet Barry's smiling face.

"I think I'll never be late to anything anymore." He gave an awkward laugh and shrugged.

It took a minute for Felicity's brain to catch up to Barry's lightning speed. "This is… This is incredible Barry." She beamed at him. "You can do so much with this. Oliver is going to-"

"About that," Barry's smile disappeared as soon as she mentioned Oliver's name. "I don't know how long this will last. It may be temporary. I don't want to give anyone false hope, especially myself. I still have to run so many tests and figure out exactly what happened. Could we keep this between you and me, at least for now, until I understand what this really is?"

Felicity pressed her lips together as to stop herself from speaking. She closed her eyes and nodded in acceptance. It was Barry's secret to tell, and Felicity's to keep. "Your secret's safe with me."

* * *

The three arrived at the foundry to see Oliver training. Last night's ordeal had left him wounded and in some pain. Diggle had to stich up some of his open wounds. But, he continued to punch the bag, wincing from some of the muscles that were still sore.

Felicity was the first one to go down the flight of stairs. He stopped and turn toward her, showing the slightest expression on his face that he was in some pain. She approached him on his side and placed a hand on his shoulder gingerly. "I know your angry, but your also hurt Oliver. You need rest." She smiled at him and he returned one to her. "Let me treat the gash you have here, I think its opening up again."

Oliver nodded and sat down while removing his boxing gloves. She grabed a few supplies from the cabinet and proceeded to clean the wound. Barry followed Diggle down the stairs five minutes later and greeted Oliver. "I hear you have a serum for me to analyze." He smiled at Oliver.

Oliver grabs the vial from the table beside him and hands it to Barry. "We need a full work up of the contents of this vial. As well as any possible antidotes to reverse its effects."

Barry nodded and took the vial from Oliver. "I'll work my magic." He smiled and began his work.

Felicity re-stitched one of Oliver's wounds as he watched Barry type in computations and explain to Diggle, step by step, what he was doing. He contemplated whether he should say something, and then decided that the air had to be cleared. He saw that Felicity was about to finish and grabbed her hand to pull her forward. Slightly startled, she followed his direction. He looked at the ground for the words, but found no help there and sighed. Looking up at her he smiled, "Thank you."

"Yeah, of course. What are executive assistants for if to not clean and cauterize their boss's wounds in their underground layer conveniently located under their sister's club?" She winked at him.

He chuckled, not caring for the slight side pain that it caused, and shook his head. "No, I mean thank you for making the decision to save my life and to bring Barry into this. I might have not voiced it, but I was grateful. Slightly irritated, but grateful."

"Hmm, funny. Irritation wasn't a side effect of the warfarin." She smiled and collected the supplies that she had used. "Friendship means never having to say you're sorry… or thank you."

"And, I do by the way." Oliver said turning to Felicity. She looked at him as if asking him to elaborate. "I do trust you, completely."

She turned around so that Oliver could not see the smile that was taking over her entire face."Back at ya."

* * *

A few hours had passed when the tests finished and the serum analysis was complete. Barry walked to the computer and looked at the results. The three were waiting anxiously, to see what he had to tell them. "The analysis is a bit, complicated." He continued to read over the report. "There are trace amounts of a sodium thiopental derivatives," he looked up and saw confusion so he explained, "that's truth serum, with numerous amounts of hormones and psychotropic elements. But, it's even more than that. There are some compounds that I wasn't able to identify." He motioned to the microscope beside him. "I put some live tissue samples and added a small sample of the serum and what I saw was fascinating. The cellular DNA... it, altered. I put the cells under a hot lamp, and within a few minutes they regenerated. It's incredible." His eyes were fixed on the report when Oliver raised himself from his chair.

"Do you have any idea how to reverse its effects?" Oliver asked Barry.

Barry raised his eyes to meet his. "It seems that once the serum is injected and the DNA is altered completely, there is no going back to it's original form. It's possible that the transformation causes an exponential amount of pain and that may explain the need for a sedative when injected." He took a seat at the microscope and removed the slide that it held. "I will keep trying different compounds to see if it affects the mutated cells in any way and tell you as soon as I find anything."

Oliver nodded and gestured for him to continue. Diggle stood up and asked for a minute of his time. "Oliver, we still haven't talked about the arrow that killed Blood last night. It was black just like the one used by-"

"The Dark Archer." Oliver finished his sentence, still in disbelief of what he was saying. "He's dead Dig. I killed him."  
"I don't know, Oliver. Lately it seems that dead is a temporary state for the people in your life." Diggle gave Oliver a pat on the back.

"Guys?" Felicity turned her chair to face them. "From what Blood said, he wasn't the one that was leading this recruitment of super soldier's. So we're assuming that the human genie pig experiments aren't over." As they approached her monitors, she turned around to her keyboard and began to pull up screens for them to see. "Oliver, you destroyed the industrial grade centrifuge last night, so chances are that _they_ are looking to find another one to replace that. I've searched all medical facilities that have one of the same grade, and I found this." She pulled up another screen. "Dollars to donuts it's where they are going to strike next." She pointed to the screen that indicated that there was a medical lab facility just outside the city. She pulled up another map on an adjacent computer. "There's also this. I've discovered a pattern in the hospital thefts all around the city. Most of the small stuff is random delivery trucks heists. But, the larger equipment that they have been using is all linked to this ARGUS organization. That got me thinking and I found that they place tracking devices in their equipment. "

"So you can track it to where they're base is?" Diggle asked.

"Well, yes and no. The tracking devices can be disabled, which is what they have done or I would be able to triangulate the signal. I could turn it back on, but I need to use the ARGUS system and-," She typed a few words in and a red screen that said _ACCESS DENIED_ popped up, "their system is completely closed. They have levels of firewall that I have never encountered before. The only way for me to get into the system is by setting up a worm on their main server, which is in their headquarter office… In the basement…Twenty floors underground."

Oliver began to shake his head, "We'll think of another way. There is too much that we can't anticipate sending you inside alone."

"Oliver, the life that we lead is filled with unanticipated scenarios. There is no other way. I know that they will strike the research lab soon for the centrifuge. Besides, this is my choice. You have never forced me to do anything unwillingly… with the exception of getting you coffee at the office."

Oliver looked at Felicity's smiling face. He could see that behind it there was a great deal of fear that she was learning how to hide more and more these days. He remembered the not-so-timid IT girl that he had approached, what felt like ages ago, with a bullet ridden laptop. She was innocent and uncorrupted before he had entered her world. He tore her away from the safe life she led behind a desk, to a dangerous one that had threats lurking in every corner. Oliver had felt an incredible amount of guilt when she was put in dangerous situation because of her association with him. But, he felt even more when she was willing to place herself in danger to help him.

It was true; he had never forced her to do anything unwillingly. But, she did not choose to have a decapitating noose placed around her neck. She did not choose to have the Counts clammy hands play with her hair as they waited for Oliver to arrive. It had been _his_ choices that have led her into those situations. Oliver formed fists at the memory of the Count holding her shoulders as she trembled under his grip. He looked eyes with her and saw that she was eager to help him, she always was. For risk of saying all the things he wanted to say, all the things that were running through his mind that he was never able to express to her, he nodded and agreed.

* * *

Felicity was proud of the passes she had created to get in and out of the ARGUS building; it was some of her best work. She approached the security officer in the main hall and showed her her pass explaining that she was there to fix a security risk that was brought to her attention by a possible breach. What she left out, is that the possible breach was actually her trying to hack into the system.

"I don't see any maintenance logs about this." The officer switched from screen to screen, checking all the calendars he could find. "let me call upstairs."

Felicity began to internally panic and put her hands on the desk trying to get his attention back. "Look I don't want to get yelled at by the man upstairs again, if you know what I mean. Can you check just one more time before calling?" She gave him an awkward wink and he smiled as he agreed. "_Mind hurrying it up a little?_" She said under her breath to Diggle who was dropping the file into the folder so it would show up on the officer's screen.

"Almost there Felicity, just a few more seconds." Oliver informed her.

The officer looked up from his screens to Felicity and she smiled at him. He switched back to one of the screens when something popped up on the calendar. He read it and nodded at her. A breath of relief left her and she approached the desk again. "They never tell security anything that they actually have to know," the officer joked as he opened the doors for her.

"I hear ya." She thanked him and went on her way to the elevator hitting -20 on the touch screen. "I'm in," she informed the men that were listening in as the doors to the elevators closed. "I turned the camera scramblers on, you are the only one that is watching the live feed." She waved at the camera as she stepped out of the elevator.

"Got you loud and clear Felicity, you have ten minutes before the officer's make their rounds." Diggle informed her as she got to work. As the clock ticked Oliver began to pace back and forth behind Diggle. "That's not going to help anyone." Diggle gave him a look and Oliver stood still.

"Have you had any progress with the serum?" He addressed Barry, with his eyes fixed on the Felicity's feed.

"Not yet, but I think I'm close to something." As he walked to where they were and joined watching the screen. The three men's eyes flew from the counting clock to Felicity's feed and back to the clock.

"Felicity you have about a minute left, are you almost there?" Diggle chimed in and waited for an answer.

"This is an incredible amount of protection that they have. I wonder what they are trying to hide?" She typed in a few more things and got a green screen. "Yes." She fist pumped the air in her usual fashion. "Sending the triangulated signal to you, now." She stored her tablet and reconnected the cables she had used to the main computer.

"Good, now get out of there." Oliver ordered as soon as she was fully packed.

She walked to the elevator and pressed the button to the main floor. As it began to run she heard something above her head. All of a sudden the electricity to the elevator was cut and it stopped moving. "Uhh, guys?" She looked around her for a way to restart it, but found nothing. The elevator doors were suddenly forced open and she squinted her eyes at the rush of light that poured in. "Oliver," was the only thing that she could say before she was hit in the head and rendered unconscious.

"He's not here to save you, love."

"Felicity?!" Oliver yelled through the coms, but there was no answer. "Diggle, bring up the camera feed now! Felicity!"

Diggle typed furiously trying to regain access to the security feed and Barry moved away from the monitors to let him work.

All of a sudden someone opened the door to the foundry and ran down the stairs screaming Oliver's name. "Laurel has been taken, Oliver!" Oliver turned to see a frantic Sarah run to him. "I was watching her from a roof top and she turned a corner and then someone took her. They were so fast I, don't know where they went." Her panic made him feel helpless and it was evident in his facial expression that he was in distress.

"Got it," Diggle informed Oliver and he stopped the video on a screen shot of the man that had taken Felicity.

Sarah approached the screen and her eyes widened with surprise. "It can't be."

"Slade." Oliver's one word rang in the ears of everyone in the room.


	6. The Consequences of our Choices

**This was a really fun chapter to write. I apologize for the length, but once I started I really couldn't help myself. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and if you have any suggestions as to something that I should change please do not hesitate to tell me. I was a little iffy about some of the events that took place, but Laurel is so underdeveloped in the series I figured that I would help her out a little if I could.**

**As always, enjoy and comment my little Archers and happy holidays!**

* * *

_Lian Yu 4 years ago_

It had been three days since Ivo had forced Oliver to choose between Shado and Sarah. Three days since he executed Shado. Three days that Oliver had seen the rage that had been ignited within Slade and the madness that was in his eyes. Oliver and Sarah had been following Slade's trail of destruction, but have been two steps behind him at every turn. He had ripped through various camps along the coast of the island, leaving dismantled bodies and no structure standing. It was clear that he was looking for Ivo to exact his revenge.

Sarah was walking on the shore of the last camp that Slade had destroyed. What had once been a state of the art mission control and camp for many of the soldier's that were employed by Ivo, now was a desolate ghost town with no sign of life. She spotted something shining under a piece of rubble and walked towards it, picking it up. It was picture frame that was dusted with the ashes of the building that had once housed it. Sarah cleaned the glass and revealed a photograph of a man and a woman in their wedding attire, smiling happily at the camera. "I don't know what this Mirakuru does exactly, Ollie, but I don't think the man that we have been tracking isn't your friend anymore."

Oliver looked around him, understanding what Sarah meant. The Slade he knew would not kill in the way that the man that savaged this camp did. Slade only ever took a life when his own was put in danger. Whatever happened here was not self-defense, it was mass murder. "There has to be a part of him still in there that I can reach. He can still be saved." Oliver had been through enough with Slade to know that if the roles were reversed, he would do the same. "I can't give up on him Sarah."

She turned to face the man that was before her. The Oliver that she once knew, the Oliver that had boarded The Gambit with her that night, was not standing on that beach with her. The man that stood before her was changed, perhaps by the event that had happened on the island or the people that he had shared a close proximity to for the last year and a half. She saw the man that she knew he could always be. She nodded at him and pointed in the direction that Slade had headed and they carried onward.

* * *

The silence left by Oliver's revelation was deafening. No one moved from where they stood for some time, frozen in place with no idea of what to do. Felicity had been taken by a dead man. It was very likely that Laurel was taken by the same person. The events that had just taken place were overwhelming and none of them had completely processed what had happened.

Oliver hands had formed into tight fists that had begun to cut the circulation to his fingers. Slowly, the various pieces of the puzzle that had been scattered in front of him for the last couple of weeks began to form an image. He began to replay everything that Blood said before he was shot by the black arrow. _He is an old friend of yours, he has great plans for you, Arrow._ Slade had supplied Blood with the Mirakuru, it was running through his veins. This meant that there was an endless amount of the serum. Blood was just a front man for Slade's operation to create an army of super soldiers. The only thing that didn't fit was the why. Why was he in Starling City? Why was he going through all this trouble? Why had he taken Felicity and Laurel?

An alert popped up on one of the computer screens and broke the silence. Diggle began to read it and hit the desk with the palm of his hand. "That's our girl!" He typed furiously on the keyboard, and everyone walked to his side to see what was happening. "Felicity was able to send us the ARGUS signal before she was taken. This alert was that someone was moving the centrifuge. This will lead us to wherever their base is."

Sarah approached Diggle's side and watched the blinking dot move on the far edges of the map. "So we wait?" She looked at Oliver as she asked.

Oliver's face was stoic and detached as he too watched the moving of the dot across the city lines. His head, on the other hand, was ravaged with endless thoughts; memories of the past, worries of the present, and dreads of the possibilities that lie in the future. "We wait."

_Lian Yu 4 years ago _

They had followed the breadcrumbs that Slade left all night in hopes of finding him before he caused any more destruction. As the sun began to rise from the west side of the island, Oliver and Sarah climbed up on a high hill where they could overlook a vast area around them. They scanned their surroundings, hoping to see anything that would lead them to Slade.

"Oliver." He turned around and directed his attention to where she was pointing. Beyond the large jungle that was below them, there was a cloud of smoke that was rising into the sky. It originated from the direction of a small area vacant of trees. "He's there."

They approached clandestinely, as to not attract his attention. They found a large tree to hid behind, one on each side, and searched for the source of the smoke. Slade was standing in front of a collection of burning logs. He was on his knees watching the embers of the fire sizzle and fade in the air. Tear trails stained his face and his eyes looked as if something had broken inside him. Oliver saw that he was holding Shado's necklace in his hands. He then realized that Slade was paying tribute to her. Oliver lost the will to breathe as he saw the flames dance around the logs and everything that Shado ever was and ever could be reduce to mere ashes. He couldn't move his body. He watched as the smoke rose above him and dissipated into the atmosphere. He closed his eyes, fighting back the tears, and prayed for the first time in years. "I'm sorry," he whispered under his breath, hoping that it would somehow reach Shado.

Slade heard something in the distance and rose from his kneeling position and adopted a defensive stance instantly. He tucked the necklace that was in his hand into his pocket and walked toward the direction of the sound. "Who's there?" He screamed in a raspy voice.

Oliver looked at Sarah and signaled for her to stay behind the tree. He threw his bow on his back and walked out from behind the camouflage of the tree with both hands in front of him, showing Slade that he had no weapons. "Slade…," Oliver thought about his next words carefully, as to not anger him more than he already was. He looked at the fire beside him and shook his head. "She's gone." It was almost a question more than a statement. In his mind, he did not want to accept that the woman that he had loved was no longer on this world.

Slade grew in his angry madness and his eyes became the one's that Oliver had seen the day that he left with Shado's body. "Because of YOU!" He screamed toward him. "You choose her fate."

Oliver could see the anger boiling in his blood. "I didn't choose for her to die, Slade."

"No, but you choose for her to live." He pointed at Sarah as she rose from her crouching position and revealed herself from behind the tree. "Everyone will suffer." He looked at the flames behind him remembering the vow that he gave as he carried Shado's lifeless body in his arms. "Including you."

Oliver didn't know what to do as he saw Slade's eyes burn holes in him. He could tell Slade was thinking of how to kill him, and when he decided on the method of murder he sneered. "Slade, please."

"The time for pleading is over, kid. It's time to pay."

* * *

Felicity could hear the distant dripping of water above her and the faint splash of it descending into a small pool below. Her head was pounding and her ears were ringing because of the pain. She raised her right hand to rub her temple, but something held it back. She pulled on it to try to get her hand free, but again something tugged it in the opposite direction. Rotating her wrist slightly, she felt cold metal touch her skin and it gave her a chill down her spine. Her eyes fluttered open and she surveyed her surroundings.

She was in a dimly lit room with cement floors and walls. There were no windows, so she deduced she might be underground. She could feel the mild humidity in the air and the cold, moist floor under her. She closed her eyes to see what she could hear but her racing heart was deafening her. She gulped and tried to calm herself. "Hello?" She paused and waited for a possible response. Deciding that her first attempt might have not been audible, she tried again.

A few feet to her left she saw something ruffling and her eyes shot to its origins. "Hello?"

Felicity recognized the voice, but she couldn't quite pinpoint who it was. "Who is that?"

"Lance. Laurel Lance." Felicity's eyes widened in surprise and tried to devise a logical explanation of where they were and why she was there with Laurel Lance of all people. "'Who is that?"

She took a deep breath and answered. "Felicity. Smoak. I work for Oliver, Laurel." She thought Laurel would probably not remember her and she might need further identification as to who she was.

Laurel raised herself from her laying position and turned to face Felicity. She scooted herself to rest her back on a large pole that she had been tied to. "Yes, I remember you." She said after a few seconds of staring at her. "Do you have any idea what we're doing here, Felicity?"

"Not a clue." Felicity continued to scan the room. There was a slight chill from above that she saw was an industrial air vent. They were in a building. From what little she could see, it looked like a large underground parking garage. "Do you remember how you got here?"

Closing her eyes Laurel frowned, wrinkling her forehead, in attempt to remember. "I was driving home from work, and I turned on my street when a man jumped in front of my car." She opened her eyes quickly as if she had just remembered some vital information. "I couldn't stop the car and I hit him. But he didn't get hurt, the car bent around him." She looked at Felicity, expecting her to not believe her. But, she was attentive to her story and nodded for her to continue. "The next thing I knew, they are pulling me out and then everything's dark until I woke up here."

Felicity processed the information and deduced that they were both taken around the same time. "Did one of the men that took you have an eye patch?"

"No, but they were incredibly strong. They pulled the door off my car."

"Oh." That meant that Gold had not been the only Mirakuru success.

Laurel was confused and did not know what she had missed. "Does that mean something to you?"

"Nothing good." Felicity glanced toward Laurel and thought of everything that she did not know and everyone in her life that was keeping things from her. Oliver, her father, even Tommy had circled around truths and lied to her for her protection. She thought of everything she knew and every secret she kept locked in her mind, many for the people that deceived the woman beside her. If knowing nothing and knowing everything led both of them to the same result, then perhaps what was happening to them was fated. It was somehow destined for them to be there. She shook her head and reluctantly returned to the reality of the cold cement basement.

Suddenly, a large metal door opened and both women's heads turned instinctively toward the sound. Two men walked through as one held the door and followed once they had passed. Felicity could recognize the one with the eye patch. That had been the man that had abducted her. They stayed silent and watched the three men walk until they had approached them. The eye patched man walked forward and knelt between them both, meeting them at eye level.

He was wearing an expensive suit that fit him perfectly and Felicity could see faint scars on his cheek and forehead. He smiled at them both and she thought that it was almost charming, if it were not for the fact that he had just kidnapped and would probably end up killing them both. "I apologize for the inconvenient accommodations, but it's the best we could do with such short notice. You understand?" He gestured around him as he spoke. "You both must be thinking 'why the hell am I here?' am I right?" He smiled once more, glancing from Laurel to Felicity.

"Among other things." Felicity said with anger in her voice. "Like who the hell are you?"

He turned to face Felicity directly. "Apologies. My name is Slade and we have a mutual friend, Miss Smoak. He goes by the name of The Arrow." Felicity recognized the name Slade from a story that Oliver had told her about the island and her eyes widened. "Oh, so you have heard of me."

Laurel looked at Felicity, again feeling like she was not in the loop. "The Arrow is not my friend."

Without turning in her direction, he laughed dryly. "Miss Lance, he is not who you think he is. But, I don't want to spoil what is to come, so stay tuned." He gazed at Felicity with interest. "You on the other hand, are a treasure chest of information aren't you Miss Smoak? I don't think I have ever seen him trust someone with all those heavy secrets on his shoulder's as he does with you."

Felicity attempted to gain her composure and made eye contact with Slade. "What do you want from us, Slade?"

Slade nodded in admiration. "You're brave. I can understand why he chose you." He stood up from his position and pinched a microscopic piece of dust from his right shoulder. "In time you will both understand your role in all this. For now," he pointed to the men behind him, "these two men will take you to a more comfortable ambiance as I prepare. If you excuse me." He smiled at both of them once more and turned to exit through the large metal door.

Everything began to make sense to Felicity. From what she remembered of Oliver's story, Slade was dead. She had no idea how he died. Oliver had injected him with the serum, which explains the sudden appearance of super strong junkie soldiers. But, he _was_ Oliver's friend on the island. Why would he be doing this to them? Felicity felt that there must have been more to the story than what Oliver had told them.

* * *

As they waited for the centrifuge to stop moving, Oliver prepared himself for what was to come. He slipped into his suit and sharpened his arrows. This was an impossible mission for Oliver. Slade had been the man that taught him how to fight, a man that had once called him a friend. He had faced Slade before and he barely made it out alive the last time. But, there was more at stake than his life now. Laurel, the woman that he has betrayed countless times before and thought he loved was in danger because of his past. Laurel deserved to have Tommy alive; she deserved to be safe with her parents and her not so dead sister with them. She did not deserve whatever was happening to her now.

And then there was Felicity. The woman that had changed her entire life to be at his side and would jump out of airplanes, enter illegal casinos, and pose as bait for a sting just to help him save the day. Oliver had vowed to keep her safe to Diggle and there was no way that he would break that promise. She was in danger by association. When he thought that he almost lost her to the Count he felt the world crumbling around him. She saw the real him, the Oliver that even he himself could not see when he looked in the mirror. The Oliver underneath the suit and scars that people did not care to pay attention long enough to recognize. This was what made it physically impossible to lie to her. He has been hiding a substantial part of his life from his family, friends, and even Laurel. He creates ridiculous stories to explain how he got many of his wounds and they believed him. With Felicity, there does not have to be a mask on the truth. There is this weight that Oliver never knew he had and feels it lift every time he is in her presence. He needed someone like that in his life to keep him grounded and help him see what he was protecting. He needed her in his life.

"Ollie," Sarah placed a hand on his left shoulders and ripped him away from his thoughts. "I'm coming with you when we figure out where Slade is."

Oliver shook his head with a stern look on his face. "That's not happening."

Sarah sighed and put her other hand on his right shoulder and turned him toward her. She raised her head to make eye contact with him. "Ollie, this is not just your fight. My sister is there too. Besides you remember the last time we fought against Slade? If I weren't there who knows what would have happened."

"I am not putting yet another person in danger, Sarah. You stay here. I will deal with this on my own."

She let go of his shoulders, pushing him back slightly, and placed her hands on her hips. "Oliver Queen, when will you realize that you are not alone in this crusade? You have people that are willing to fight by your side. You were marooned on an abandoned island and were still surrounded by people who fought beside you for God sake. Ollie, you won't get rid of me that easily."

"Or me on that matter." Diggle walked beside Sarah and nodded to both of them. "Brothers in arms Oliver, that's what we are." He smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"If we are all to go against this Slade, I think I've got something that may give us a fighting chance." Barry stood from his chair carrying syringes filled with a blue liquid. "It won't reverse the effects of the serum, but it will temporarily weaken them to a normal human state by injecting it directly to a vein. The liquid has to reach the heart so it spreads throughout the body." He handed a syringe to each of them holding on to one for himself.

Oliver saw this and shook his head. "You're not coming with us. I can't imagine what Felicity would do to me if you get hurt."

Barry smiled at him shaking the syringe in the air. "That's the thing, they may have super strength. But, strength is nothing when you're too fast for them to catch you." Barry decided that this was a good time as any to reveal himself to the people in the room. A few bursts of air made some papers fly and moved the equipment slightly. He ran two laps around the room and returned to his original spot. The three watched as Barry became a blur and then reappeared in front of them. "I'm still getting the hang of it."

They were left speechless. The silence broke when the computer monitor behind them flashed an alert that the centrifuge had stopped moving. Regaining their composure they saw that it was in a building in the center of the city.

Diggle turned and padded Barry's back and smiled at him. He grabbed his gun from behind him and took a look at everyone in the room. "What do you saw we go get our girls?"

_Lian Yu 4 Years ago_

Oliver was frozen in place as he watched Slade run toward him to attack. He could hear Sarah behind him screaming his name, but he could not lift his legs. She ran to him and jumped, pushing them both out of the way of Slade's landing. "Oliver, we have to fight." Sarah looked at Oliver and shook his arms to take him out of his state of shock. He blinked quickly and returned to his senses. She looked into his eyes to make sure he was listening. "We have to fight."

Oliver nodded and they both stood, Oliver retrieving his bow from his back and Sarah preparing herself by twirling her metal staff. Slade reached behind him and took his Katana out of its scabbard as he turned to face them. "Time to pay." He ran in their direction and raised his sword to strike. Sarah unlocked her staff and split it into two sections. She blocked his initial attack and quickly jabbed at his sides and head trying to incapacitate him. Slade's body bent to the blows and then broke free from her defense and pushed her forcefully. She flew in the air and slammed into a tree. Falling to its roots, she tried and failed to raise herself with her arms. Out of breath she looked up and saw Slade approach Oliver slowly.

Oliver looked quickly to Sarah to see if she was alright. She nodded indicating that she would live, and his eyes returned to Slade as every step he grew closer. "Slade, we're friends. We fight side by side not each other."

"You are nothing to me but my next kill." Slade raised his sword again and struck. Oliver raised his bow in front of him and blocked it, hitting him in the process. His anger was growing and he hit Oliver in the back, sending him down to the ground. He began to raise his body, but Slade kicked him in the stomach twirling him in the air and landing on his back a few feet away.

Just as he approached to give him another kick, Sarah jumped on his back and locked her arms around his neck trying to squeeze the life out of him. He grabbed at her, but she did not lose her grip. "Oliver!" She yelled, unable to look up. Oliver raised himself from the ground and loaded his bow. He aimed it at Slade, his hand shaking and his head telling him that he could still reason with him. Slade was the only reason he was still alive on this island. Sarah struggled to keep hold of him and her arms slipped below his neck. Slade took advantage of that and he grabbed them and threw her over his shoulders and on her back in front of him.

Oliver's eyes widened and his concentration grew. Slade raised his foot high above Sarah, lowering his arms to gain momentum and strength. She screamed Oliver's name once again. He was panicking, his heart was about to jump out of his chest and without thought he let the bow string go and the arrow flew.

Seconds felt like minutes and time became an irrelevant measure. He closed his eyes and his arms fell to his side, his fingers loosening around the bow as it dropped to the ground. When he opened them he saw Sarah standing and looking down at the ground at a motionless body. Oliver walked slowly, setting his feet on the ground firmly as if the world was moving and he would lose his balance at any second. When he got to Sarah's side, he looked down to where her eyes were fixed. The arrow he fired had landed in Slade's right eye. Breathless, he watched as the blood trickled from his lacrimal, following the trails left by the tears he had shed.

Sarah looked up at Oliver's guilt ridden face. "There was nothing you could have done."

Unable to take his eyes off his fallen brother, he shook his head, "there's always something that could have been done."

* * *

Oliver walked into the building where the centrifuge was taken and surveyed the scene. He saw no one in the vicinity, but something was tugging at him to venture inward. Opening a large door that lead to a central hall, he entered and the motion sensing lights began to reveal the room. Looking around him he saw two people kneeling a few hundred feet from the entrance to the room, with sacks on their heads. He looked closer and recognized the purple dress that the one on the left was wearing, it was Felicity.

His steps became faster and just as he was about to approach the women, Slade walked out of the shadows of the room shaking his head in disapproval. "Patience is a virtue, kid." Oliver stopped and watched as Slade moved behind the two women and removed the sacks from atop their heads. "Why don't you ladies say hello to our guest."

Both Felicity and Laurel blinked to acclimate their eyes to the bright lights around them. When their vision was no longer blurred, they saw just who Slade was referring to. Felicity's face grew hopeful, and her mouth moved to a shape that was about to say Oliver's name but she stopped herself. Slade bent to their level and placed a hand on each of their shoulders, sending chills down both their spines. "Recognize anything?" He rose and gestured around the room. "We are missing a few things; trees and such. I think your memory will fill in the blanks."

Oliver saw the two women before him and their crying faces became Sarah and Shado. The pain of the day returned to him and his entire body felt cold and numb. "Why?"

Slade stepped in front of the women to admire them. "History repeats itself, I think. This is a prime example of that." He turned to face Oliver. "I thought we would give it another go. See if you would choose a Lance once more."

Laurel heard this and raised her head in confusion. She had no idea why she was there kneeling beside Oliver's assistant. She had stopped all contact with The Arrow, so using her as a pawn was not the best idea given the fact that she despised him for allowing Tommy's death. Now, this Cyclopes psychopath was bringing up another _'Lance_'. This was definitely not making it any easier to understand what was going on.

"They have nothing to do with what happened on that island, Slade." Oliver took a step forward, and stopped when he saw Slade's index finger move from side to side in a 'no' motion.

"This has everything to do with what happened on that island. Choices make who we are. They shape our future, kid. Your choices have changed the path of many and you have yet to claim responsibility for that."

"I tried to save Shado-"

Slade turned quickly and walked toward Oliver, leaving a few feet of distance between them. "You do not get to say her name!" He screamed.

"We both lost her."

His posture grew tense and his fists curled. "I did not lose her. She was taken from me." His breathing grew heavy and Oliver could sense that his anger was growing. "You think you wear her father's hood in her honor? You use that bow to pay tribute to her? You disgrace her memory, Oliver."

Laurel's eyes became fixed on the hooded man in front of her. "Oliver….. Ollie?" She whispered to herself. She replayed all the encounters that she has had with The Vigilante, The Hood, and The Arrow. Her mind was trying to process everything he had ever told her, every time he had ever saved her life. All her suspicions had risen to the surface and piece by piece the puzzle had begun to become clear. Her eyes began to swell with tears, and she could not contain herself. "Ollie?" She asked out loud, a part of her hoping that it was not true.

Slade turned to the women and smirked at how unimpressed he was. "I see you've put two and two together." He pointed at Oliver and cocked his head as he bent to meet Laurels level. "The lies you've told this one. Why not reveal what is behind the curtain. Show her the price of your deception."

Oliver could see the pain in Laurel's eyes and wondered if there was ever a part of her that actually suspected who he really was. Would everything that they had been through be tainted by the revelation that he was the man that she had been searching to punish for Tommy? He obliged Slade's request, and with both hands gently removed the hood that covered his identity leaving only the mask he wore. He could not pinpoint what he felt about showing Laurel who he was. It was not pain towards hurting the person that he loved. It was more of a disappointment that she found out the way she did.

Laurel could not contain her tears as she searched for the man she once knew under the green leather. Breathing heavy, she asked, "Tommy?" She wanted an explanation as to how he was able to let the man he called his best friend die. Oliver understood and shook his head to acknowledge that it was not him who killed their Tommy. As many lies as there had been flung at her, she could tell that this was not one and saw that she had been blaming the wrong man for his death.

Slade stood and walked between the women once more. "As touching as this reunion is, love, I'm moving on." He bent to Felicity's level this time. "You Miss Smoak, you interest me." Oliver's body tensed as Slade grew closer to Felicity. "I have watched and waited for the perfect moment for four years, and from the instant that you entered his life I knew it was fast approaching. With every look and gentle touch, I could see that he was holding something back. I could feel it. In his eyes I saw what I myself felt for Shado. Your bravery reminds me of her very much at times." His face grew soft as if he was remembering a fond memory. "I had only just told her of what I felt, when she was torn from my grasp." The suppressed anger boiled inside and revealed itself once again. "Apologies, Miss Smoak. This has to be done." He stood and took a few steps back, removing a gun from his holster and aiming it first at Laurel and then at Felicity. "It's time to choose."

"Slade you don't have to do this. It's me you want, let them go."

"The time for that will come. I want you to see the life drain out of the one that you let die. I want you to hold her and feel her slip away from you, until she is no more. That is a gift I was not given with Shado." Oliver shook his head, and watched as Slade got angrier. He rolled his eyes and began a countdown. "Ten… Nine…. Eight….", his gun switching back and forth between the women with every number.

Felicity could not see the gun behind her, but she felt it when it was pointing her way. She glanced at Oliver's panicked face and Laurel's disappointed one. She remembered the time that Diggle once said that he would choose Laurel every time, "_it will always be Laurel_". She could hear Slade continue to count down behind her. She swallowed whatever fear she felt, and saw that Oliver could not and would not decide. So, she did.

"Oliver." She said loud enough for all around her to hear. Oliver's eyes shot at her, as did Laurel's and Slade's. She smiled at him, a few tears escaping her eyes and ran down her face. She wanted to say so much, everything she has had bottled up inside ready to burst every time he was near her. How she admired and cared for him. How she feared for his life every night before she attempted, unsuccessfully, to fall asleep. How she trusted him entirely, although she did not always agree with his decisions. How the last year that she had spent with him was the best of her life and she would have done it all again, with the exception of some uncomfortable situations, if it meant she could be by his side. She tried to encompass all those feelings into a few words, but was unable to so she decided to go with her gut and hope that what she said would carry with it as much of that message as possible. "Thank you." She stood, unsteadily, and turned towards Slade with her eyes closed.

Oliver froze for a second, both admirable and angry at what Felicity was doing. "Now," he whispered into his coms and high about them the ceiling began to rattle. Suddenly, the sky burst in consecutive explosions and fell on their heads. Felicity fell to the ground and Laurel lost her balance and hit the floor as well. Dust clouded the room and very little could be seen. Felicity turned on her back, and saw that she was at Slade's feet. He looked down at her and her eyes widened as a green arrow was fired at him. He caught it before it pierced into his chest and his eyes flew to the direction that the arrow originated. He walked past the two women and disappeared into the dust and out of Felicity's vision.

Felicity looked to her left and saw Sarah fly inside the room from above and land in front of two of Slade's soldiers. She split her staff and readied herself for an attack. The two men looked at each other, smiling and grabbed their weapons from their backs. Sarah's head cocked to the side and she smiled. "Little men and their little toys." They ran to attack and she quickly stuck a needle in each of their necks. "Time to play fair boys." The men shook slightly, but did not notice a difference. They ran up to her and, as if it were choreographed, she took them down with a few jabs.

She noticed Laurel and Felicity on her side and ran to them. She approached Laurel and hesitated to touch her. Laurel looked up and Sarah smiled at her. Laurel recognized the smile, but could not believe what she was seeing. Sarah reached for her face and cupped it in her hand. "Hey sis." Laurel's eyes widened in disbelief and her eyes began to tear up once again. Sarah heard large footsteps behind her and turned to face them. Removing another syringe from her holster, she ran into the dust and vanished.

"Felicity." She heard her name being called from behind her and turned. Barry had begun cutting away her hand ties to free her. "Boy, am I glad to see you're alright."

"Barry," she felt her hands freed and stretched them to regain circulation, "take Laurel."

Barry was confused at first, but understood and moved on to freeing Laurel's hands. "Hello, Miss Lance." Once he had freed them, he helped her stand. "Now hold on, I'll get you out of here in a flash." A few bursts of air and Barry and Laurel were nowhere to be seen.

Felicity turned her attention to the direction Slade had walked. She stood and cautiously made her way through the rubble. She heard gun shots and screaming from a far and she smiled. "Diggle." The dust was beginning to settle and her range of vision was becoming clearer. She heard voices in front of her and followed their sound.

"How are you still alive, Slade?" Felicity could recognize Oliver's voice and turned to him.

Felicity heard Slade laugh at his question. "The Reaper can swing his scythe at me, but I am beyond death's stroke kid." She could hear arrows being fired and bounce on the floor as Slade deflected them. "I see your aim has improved slightly."

Felicity now saw Oliver and Slade in front of her. Oliver grabbed something from his pocket and tried to stab Slade, but he hit his arm and it flew in the air. Felicity watched as it landed and slid to her feet. Kneeling, she grabbed it and saw it was a similar syringe to the one Sarah injected in the two men she fought. She looked up knowing what she had to do.

Slade jumped and kicked Oliver in the chest making him hit the wall and slide to the ground. He walked to him and grabbed him in a head lock, cutting his air supply. "You're no hero. You might have cut your hair and cleaned yourself up, but underneath that green suit is the weak, scare boy that I trained on the island." Slade let Oliver go and he fell to the ground. "Illusions die hard, don't they kid?"

Meanwhile Felicity had walked behind Slade and waited for him to let go of Oliver. She gathered all her strength and all her courage and yelled Slade's name. He turned and she jabbed the needle into the center of his chest, injecting the liquid directly into his heart. He took a step back and took the needle out, throwing it to the floor and breaking the glass. He hit Felicity on the side and she flew across the room landing in rubble.

"No!" Oliver yelled frantically, gathering every ounce of strength he had and standing up. His head was foggy and he was seeing double. All of a sudden he saw someone walking through the rubble and towards him. It was Malcolm Merlyn. His eyes widened as he approached his side.

"You can't beat him Oliver. Your weak. He's faster and stronger and taught you most of what you know. You won't beat him, you wanna know why? Because you have no idea what you are fighting for and what you are willing to sacrifice to do it. What is that heart inside you fighting for, Oliver?" Malcolm tapped Oliver's chest with his index finger.

"For love." Oliver gained his balance and a new fire ignited inside him. "I fight for the people that I love." He looked to his side and saw that Malcolm had disappeared. Was he another hallucination? Shaking his head, he focused on the fight he had in front of him. He ran to Slade and jumped-punched him on his head. Slade was surprised at the pain that it had caused him, and Oliver realized that Felicity had injected him with Barry's liquid and it was taking effect.

Quickly, he took his bow and slammed it on each side and on his shoulder, bringing him to his knees. He punched him, with all his weight in each jab, again and again until he could see that Slade was fading and his eyes became absent. Oliver raised his bow and armed it as Slade was about to lose consciousness. "It's over Slade."

Just then the doors burst open and multiple armed soldiers wearing all black ran into the room and yelled for everyone to freeze. Diggle had traveled through the room and had just approached Oliver's side. As the room became silent, the distant clacking of heels was heard approaching. The woman entered the room and looked around, spotting Oliver above a groggy Slade and Diggle at his side. She motioned to a few soldiers to come to her, "Take this man to the circus. Maximum security wing." The soldiers nodded and grabbed Slade, dragging him away.

She approached the two men in front of her and smiled. "Mr. Queen." She looked at Diggle and nodded. "Nice to see you again Mr. Diggle. Say hello to Lyla for me, will you?"

Oliver looked at Diggle and saw that he recognized her too, "Mrs. Palmer. May I ask, where you are taking that man?"

"We have been tracking multiple thefts that have occurred throughout this city in our facilities and thank you for your assistance in finding the culprit." She directed it to both men and Sarah that was approaching from behind her. "He's going where all thieves go, to prison." She motioned for all of her soldier's to exit the room, and they followed her command. "We will take care of this if you don't mind leaving before the authorities arrive." She began to leave the room and turned to face them one more time. "Your services are appreciated, but remember that that government sees all, Mr. Queen. If we know who you are, you can bet that others do as well; just a word of warning. Oh, and tell your hacker that we will be in touch." She smiled, turned and left as quickly as she had arrived.

Oliver realized that he had not heard anything from Felicity and ran to where she had landed. He dropped to his knees and gathered her into his arms. "Felicity?" he said gently to try to wake her.

She opened her eyes slowly and looked up at Oliver with a smile. "Am I dead?"

He laughed loudly and could not help but tear up at her being alright. "Not just yet." He scooped her up and carried her so close to him he could feel her heartbeat. He did not let go of her until he was sure she was completely safe.

_24Hours Later _

Felicity awoke holding her head with both hands believing that if she did not it would split open. She opened her eyes and saw that she was in the Foundry, laying on the couch and covered with a blanket. She took a few breaths and raised herself to move to a sitting position, still holding on to her head.

"Rise and Shine," she heard from above her and watched as Oliver walked down the stairs with a glass of water.

All the memories of the night before rushed into Felicity's mind and she held her head tighter. "Laurel? Slade? Are you all right?" Her mind was working faster than her mouth and she could not ask the questions fast enough.

Oliver stood in front of her shushing her and handing her the cup of water and some medication for her headache. "Everything is fine. I'll tell you all about it when you feel better. Slade is gone and Laurel is safe."

Felicity took the medication and her body relaxed. Oliver grabbed a chair and took a seat facing Felicity. She looked up at him, and he seemed angry at her. "Your making me feel like everything is not fine."

Oliver crossed his arms and sat back on the chair. "Why did you do such a reckless thing back there?" Felicity did not know if he was referring to the getting caught, or telling Barry to take Laurel first, or maybe it was- "You risked your life trying to save mine. I'm not worth your life, Felicity."

She grew angry at his unappreciative attitude and stood up. "Why can't I be the judge of that? And you're welcome by the way, not that I needed you to thank me." She walked to her computers and closed her eyes, trying to hold back the tears.

Oliver raised himself and followed her. "I am thankful." He approached her from behind and touched her shoulder gently. "Thank you. But this fight was my choice. It was because of me that you were taken by Slade… if anything were to have happened to you. I would have never been able to forgive myself."

She turned to face him, still angry. "I make my own decisions Oliver. I choose to fight by your side. Given, most of my fighting is sitting behind a computer screen, but I choose to commit cyber terrorist to help you."

He took a hand that she had by her side and held it tightly to his chest. She could feel the slow beating heart that was underneath her fingertips and it calmed her. "I'm living a double life, and I put all of the people I care about at arm's length for their protection. All the people I love. But you," he smiled at her warmly, "I haven't been able to let you go." She looked at him confused about what he was saying. "Nobody in my life is who I thought they were, Felicity. Except you. It surprises me to see the lengths you're willing to go for the people you…. Your friends."

She heard the word 'friend' and she swallowed. She was just a friend to him. "That's what friends are for." She smiled. "I imagine myself by your side every night. I mean fighting the good fight to save the city not in the sleeping with you sense. Although I wouldn't be opposed to that, not that you're insinuating anything… because I was the one that brought it up-"

Oliver laughed and raised a finger to her lips. "Thank you." He looked down at her and without further though or analysis of the moment, he kissed her. Her surprise left her wide eyed, but they slowly closed as she became comfortable in the embrace. Her hand slid across the desk behind her and dropped the journal that Oliver's father had written. As the kiss broke, her eyes slowly opened to look at the man in front of her. "Guessing we are a little more than friends then?" She smiled kneeling down to pick up the journal that had fallen.

It had flipped to a page and as she raised herself from her position, her eyes were fixed on something. "What's wrong?" He looked at her with concern.

She looked up from the page that she had read and turned it face him. "I think we might have another problem on our hands."

Oliver skimmed down the list of people on the page. Right below the name Ra's Al Ghul was Isabel Rochev written clearly in his father's hand.

* * *

**Is that a cliff hanger or what?! LOL**


	7. Genesis

**Sorry for the lateness of this chapter, but it's just in time for the midseason premiere! **

**The first section is just what I think happened after Slade was taken by Waller (Sorry I used the wrong name in the previous chapter). **

**Hope you like it my little archers. **

…. TIME: 20:13

…. LOCATION: Somewhere in the Argus Mountain Range in Vancouver, British Colombia

…. FACILITY: Circus. Maximum Security Wing

Deep within the walls of an undisclosed building in a sealed room, Slade was tied to a standing chair forced to watch the screen in front of him. There were no windows and no clocks. He had lost track of time long ago. The display he had been watching was of the same images repeated over and over again. They were quick pictures with words below them, flashes that imprinted in his mind. Some pictures were of military men marching with the word fight below them. Others of the ARGUS logo with the word obey.

Slade's eyes were burning and he wanted nothing more than to look away, to close his lids and rest. But, something inside him wanted to keep watching the flashes as they appeared and disappeared every few seconds.

Suddenly the flashes stopped and the room went dark for a moment. When the lights returned, there was no corner of the room that was not lit. He searched around him for some indication of where he was or a possible method of escape. He saw his hands, legs, and neck restrained with large steel bars. Slade pulled with everything he had, but he was unable to escape.

A door opened where the screen had been and the clicking of heels could be heard from the distance. A man entered the room and placed a chair in the center in front of Slade. A woman followed and sat in the chair as the man moved to the side with his arms behind his back. She crossed her legs and watched as Slade desperately attempted to escape his confines.

"There is no use in trying to escape, Mr. Wilson. Thanks to the concoction that Mr. Allen created, your super strength has been temporarily suspended." Slade lowered his eyes to her level. "I don't think we have been properly introduced, my name is Amanda Waller. I work for an organization by the name of ARGUS."

"As much as I would love to hear your life story Miss Waller, could you tell me where the hell I am?"

Waller smiled and obliged. "You, Mr. Wilson, are in a state of the art detainment facility we like to call the Circus." She raised herself from her chair and stepped in front of Slade. "In other words, we are standing in a prison that is so off the grid, no government has knowledge of its existence."

Slade stopped tugging at his restraints and looked around him once again. "Why am I here?"

"You, Mr. Wilson, are believed to be a breacher, someone that is an imminent threat to humanity." She walked to his side and brushed her hand on his restraints, circling around him. "They wanted me to dispose of you immediately, but I convinced them otherwise. You have a purpose in this world Mr. Wilson." She stood in front of him with a wide smile. "You will be my soldier."

Slade began to laugh and shake his head. "Thanks, but no thanks. I fight my own battles, love."

Waller's smile faded and she looked disappointed. "Vengeance may be fuel for battle, but it does not lead to victory in war Mr. Wilson. You have exceptional tactical training and natural instincts that cannot be taught. Your cause may not be ideal, but that _can _be rectified." Her smile returned as she looked up at him.

"You're insane." Slade began to panic, still unable to break free from his restraints.

"That's what they say about all visionaries, Mr. Wilson." Waller turned to the soldier behind her and nodded. He placed something in her hand and she turned to set it on the chair she once sat in. "In time you will see my vision as clearly as I do Mr. Wilson." She looked over her shoulder and smiled at Slade before stepping out of the room. "I have all the time in the world."

As the door closed Slade glanced at what Waller had placed on the chair. It was a mask that struck a chord in Slade. A mask that carried with it a long history, one that he had worn before on the island. It looked as if it was custom made for him, with one ocular hole. "It can't be."

The lights began to fade until the room was in total darkness. Then the screen before him held more projections. Slade closed his eyes and tried to look away, but his head drifted and his lids rose. Minutes later his eyes were fixed on the screen once again.

* * *

Oliver stood at a window in his office and watched as the people below him skittered through their everyday lives unaware of all that had happened in their city in the last month. They ran to catch their taxis and talked endlessly on their phone, with no knowledge of the battles that had occurred on their streets. He touched the window and closed his eyes, feeling the radiating heat of the morning sun that was shining into his office. He was once one of those people below him, unaware of what was around him and in blissfully ignorant of the evils that lurked in the dark. Now, he is the one that pacifies the creatures that go bump in the night. As much as he wanted to be the careless boy he used to be, Oliver could not change the man he had become. He is the only thing between the rising tide of threats and the innocents that mindlessly wander the streets below him. It was his duty to protect them.

"Oliver," He opened his eyes quickly and turned to the doorway where the voice had originated from, "We have to discuss the meeting with the foreign investors this afternoon." Isabel took the chair in front of his desk and crossed her legs, reading off her phone.

"_Please, _come in and sit down Isabel," Oliver whispered under his breath sarcastically making his way to his chair.

"I feel like I should take lead on this and present the overall plan. It would flow better from the one that actually thought it out, don't you think?" She looked up to see what Oliver thought and caught him glaring at her with his signature stoic stare. "Oliver…. Thoughts?"

Oliver took a deep breath and returned to reality. "Yes, of course."

Isabel smirked and rolled her eyes. "Honestly Oliver, I am more than capable of running this company on my own. Why not take your short skirted secretary for a trip and leave this company in the hands of a real Queen?" She rose from her chair and made her way to the doorway slamming into Felicity as she made her way into Oliver's office with her eyes fixed on her tablet.

"Isa- I mean Mrs. Rochev, I-I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention-"

Isabel composed herself and brushed nonexistent dust off her shoulder. "No you were not. You should be mindful of your surroundings." She tore through Felicity with her glair.

Felicity pushed her glasses with her index finger and swallowed her anger. "I am sorry."

Isabel shook her head and disregarded her apology. She glanced over to Oliver before she exited the room. "Consider my offer Oliver."

Still frozen from the look of pure evil that Isabel had given her, Felicity was released from her thoughts by Oliver's gentle hand resting on her shoulder. "Nothing." Oliver looked at her confused and she realized that she had not articulated a coherent sentence. She raised her tablet and clicked on a file she had been accumulating research to show him. "I've been trying to find Isabel's dirty secrets, things that might have led to her name being on your father's list." She clicked a few more documents. "Nada, it seems the only dirty thing Mrs. Rochev has is the looks she reserves for me. She's pretty clean; born in Russia, adopted and moved to the US with the foster family. She went to all the best boarding schools and Ivy league all the way."

Oliver made his way to his chair and leaned on the back with both hands. "There has to be a reason my father put her on the list. Something has to be there Felicity."

"Well, there is this." She walked over to him to show him photos of Isabel. "All these photos, in fact every photo ever taken of Isabel Rochev, is no older than five years old. I cannot find any visual evidence of her existence before 2005. There is a definite paper trail. But, I can't even high school photo that named her 'most likely to do evil'."

Oliver was lost in thought for a moment and then returned to the conversation. "That has to be something. Keep researching and tell me if you find something new."

Felicity nodded and began to walk out of the office. She grabbed the door handle, but could not open it. Something inside was pulling at her to ask him, until she finally gave in. "Are we ever going to talk, Oliver?" She turned toward him, noticing the look on his face that was asking her to elaborate. "… about what happened back there with Slade? The mysterious men in black that took him away? Or maybe the momentary loss of character where we, you know, locked lips?"

Oliver swallowed and searched for the right words. He walked around his desk and stood in front of Felicity, smiling. "Felicity," the word that meant more than just a name, "so much has happened, and I have a lingering feeling that it is nowhere near the end. You've been there through it all, right by my side." He took one of her hands and squeezed it between his gazed into her eyes. "Mrs. Smoak, would you like to accompany me to dinner tonight?"

Felicity blushed and smiled at the floor and then raised her line of vision to him. "Well, Mr. Queen. May I just say it's about time." She glanced around the office, to see if anyone was looking, and when she saw the coast was clear she raised herself on her toes and pecked him on the cheek. "I'll ank your assistant make the reservations." She smiled at Oliver over her shoulder as she left his office and made her way to her desk.

Oliver could still feel Felicity's warmth on his cheek. He cupped his hand where the kiss had been, trying to preserve the feeling just a little bit longer as he made his way to his desk. Looking out of the window, he watched Felicity type away on her tablet. It had felt ages since Russia, since he had told her that the life he led was not made to be with someone he could actually care about. He had broken not just her heart that day, but his as well. None the less, he could not help but be drawn to everything about her; her bravery, her loyalty, her tenacity. Her name flowed so easily from his lips and her touch felt right on his skin. There was a language between them that did not require words; a simple look would tell one what the other was thinking. There was an unexplained connection between the both of them and as much as Oliver wanted to keep her safe and out of harm's way, Felicity's magnetic pull was just getting stronger.

* * *

Felicity had left the office early to meet Diggle and Sarah at the foundry to collect all their findings. Oliver had to stay at the office for the meeting with the foreign investors and told them that once it ended he would make his way there. As it came to a close, Oliver and Isabel shook all of their hands and thanked them for their time, ensuring them that it did not go to waste.

Making his way to his office before leaving the building, he noticed someone sitting inside in the chair opposite his desk. "Mr. Queen, she said that she needed to speak with you and insisted on waiting for you in your office. She did not want to take no for an answer." One of the security officers from downstairs had escorted her up and was waiting for Oliver to arrive to explain it to him. Oliver nodded and sent the officer on his way.

As he grew closer to his office, he recognized who was in the chair. Taking a deep breath before opening the door, he braced himself for what was to come. "Hello Laurel."

"Oliver." Laurel did not turn her body, but waited for Oliver to take his seat in front of her to continue. There was a deafening silence for a moment. Laurel stared at Oliver waiting for him to explain and then decided that she would do what she did best, and ask the questions. "You knew that she was alive and you didn't tell me?"

Unable to look at her in the eyes as he answered, he leaned back in his chair and focused on his hands. "She asked me not to, to keep you out of danger-"

"I blamed you Oliver. Even when I thought you were dead too, I blamed you because it was easy to blame you." Laurel unsuccessfully fought the tears that were swelling in her eyes, and they began to leave trails on her face. "And then you came back, without her and…" She tried to steady her breathing to continue. "Her death broke something inside me Oliver, there was a gaping hole in my heart and in dad's. We were never able to move on from that like my mother."

Oliver raised his eyes and saw Laurel try to contain her tears. He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. "When I left the island I thought she was dead. Nothing that happened there to either of us was good Laurel. It left us both scarred. I thought it was better to think that she had died on the boat-"

"You didn't have the right to choose what was the better story to tell me Oliver! You don't think a 'hey, so your sister was still in the land of the living when I last saw her' wouldn't have helped me coupe with her loss-"

"No," Oliver stood from his sitting position with some frustration, "Nothing I would have told you would have helped you coupe with her loss. But, leaving out the worse parts was better for you Laurel. When she came back to this city, it was to protect you and your father. Her still being alive was her secret to tell, not mine." He walked over to kneel beside her. "As much as it pained me not to tell you, I respected her decision."

Laurel wiped her eyes with his tissue and turned towards him. "Speaking of secrets, you were never going to tell me that you were The Arrow were you?" He looked at her and shook his head. "There were times when I actually thought it was you, but then I thought I was going crazy. I blamed him for Tommy." She began to laugh under her sobs. "You have a real fascination with feeling guilty and seem to be the aim for much of my blame." She placed a hand under his chin and raised his head. Taking a deep breath, she looked into his eyes. She did not see the man that she had once known in them. She could see the pain that was hiding behind them, the same pain that had been in hers not that long ago. "I forgive you, Ollie. I always forgive you."

"I don't deserve your forgiveness." He stood and Laurel followed his movements. "I can't even forgive myself for all that I have done."

"It never comes easy when it's yourself that you have to forgive; I'm still working on that." She stood in front of him before wrapping her arms around him. "I have lost so much, and knowing that she is still out there, wherever she is, brings some light to my dark corner in this world." She let him go. "Why was I taken by that man? And better question, why was your assistant taken with me?"

Oliver returned his arms to his sides and tried to think of an explanation that would not reveal too much, but he was not an expert at it. "He was trying to hurt me the best way he knew how, and he almost succeeded." Oliver placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled for the first time since he stepped into his office. "I'm glad you're safe, Laurel. I will answer your questions as best I can when you ask them. I kept things from you to protect you, not to hurt you. I hope you understand that?"

Laurel smiled and nodded, bending to grab her bag. "I'm starting to."

* * *

"You don't understand. R'as Al Ghul is not someone to mess with," Sarah explained to Felicity and Diggle. "His ultimate goal is for the world to achieve perfect balance, and he doesn't care who he has to kill to make that happen. I lost the League once, but they're still looking for me."

"They won't find you," the three turned their heads to see Oliver walking down the stairs. "We find them first, has there been any progress?"

Felicity turned to her computers and began to bring up windows. "Well, we know that this R'as Al Ghul trains in a place by the name of Nanda Parbat in the Tibetan mountains. This guy's the leader of the League. He hasn't assumed responsibility for any assassinations, but there are over 300 high value targets that have been killed and are seemingly associated with his assassins. This guy is like the Darth Vadar of bad, Oliver."

"How was it that you got associated with him in the first place, Sarah?" Oliver crossed his arms and leaned onto the desk behind him.

She looked at a scar she had on her right palm and rubbed in with her left finger, recollecting memories that would rather stay hidden deep in her mind. "He saved me."

_Lain Yu 4 years ago_

The bright sun burned the skin on her back as she swayed from side to side with the current. Sarah clung to the wooden log that had once been a part of the boat. She was exhausted from the events of the previous three days, and still in shock. Whenever she tried to remember what had happened, a tidal wave of fear drowned and suffocated her out of her thoughts. Everyone was dead. "Oliver." She could barely speak, her throat was so dry and in pain.

Time had crept by slowly and the three days that she had been floating along with the rubble that was left over of the overturned boat had felt like an eternity. She lifted her lids and saw nothing but water around her. She had attempted to call out for help the first night, she screamed so loudly that she had lost her voice. She had released a few flares that she found the second night, hoping that someone out there was looking for her and wishing to the heavens that someone would see it. But, after hours of waiting no one arrived. She had lost all hope after that, awaiting death whenever it decided to come and take her.

Somewhere in the far distance she began to hear a faint noise. _Whale_, she thought_, no horn. Air horn._ She tried to lift herself, but her energy had been depleted completely. "Help," She whispered hoping they would hear her, "help".

Suddenly she felt herself being lifted from the log, and looked at with cold eyes. "Alive." A man announced. Sarah opened her eyes and saw her salvation in the form of a Chinese war ship and a gang of men in black shirts and camouflage pants.

A woman emerged from behind them and looked at her to verify for herself that the person that they had found was still alive. "Bring her inside." Sarah's lids were growing heavier by the second and she reached a point where the noise around her was inaudible and her sight became blurry. Soon after, she was out cold.

_Tick. Tick. Tick._ Sarah opened her eyes slowly and acclimated to her new surroundings. She curled her fingers on the soft sheets under her and felt the warmth of the room she was in. She could hear the ticking of the clock in the distance and feel the slow gentle movement of the water underneath swaying the boat. Beside her there were multiple empty beds and compartments with bandages and medication. She deduced that she was inside some sort of clinic. She raised her arm and saw it bandaged.

There was a clicking of a lock and the door to the room opened. The woman that she had seen during the rescue mission stepped inside and walked to the side of the bed, taking a look at the chart that was on the nightstand. "I see your healing fairly quickly and you've seem to become rehydrated." She placed the chart back in its place and looked down at Sarah. "How do you feel?"

"Alive." Her throat felt much better and her voice had returned. "Where am I?"

"You're inside one of my father's ships. We had information that there was boat wreckage somewhere in this area and we began to look for survivors. Then we found you." She walked to a table with a jar of water and poured a cup for Sarah.

"Who is your father?" Sarah asked, pushing herself up to a sitting position.

As the woman handed her the cup, she smiled. "That information will come in due time. You rest and recuperate. We will speak again when you are well enough to walk."

A week passed and Sarah recovered quickly. She felt well enough to walk and could move with little or no pain. She was summoned to an office on the far end of the ship, where the woman that had visited her in the clinic stayed. A soldier opened the door and let her in. Once she had stepped inside, the door closed quickly, and Sarah heard the clicking of locks behind her.

"I see you've healed rather remarkably." The woman turned her chair to face Sarah and gestured to the seat in front of her desk. "Please take a seat."

Sarah sat in the comfortable leather chair and fiddled with decorative pegs on the handle. "Yes, I wanted to thank you for finding and helping me. I didn't get a chance to before."

"There is no need to thank me Sarah. I did what any other person would have done. But, as I see that you are almost completely healed, I would like to tell you a little story." She rose from her chair and made her way to a shelf, where she removed a book and handed it to Sarah. Sarah began to flip the pages and look at the pictures that it held. "Like I said, this vessel belongs to my father. He goes by the name of R'as Al Gual. I am his daughter, Talia." Sarah flipped through the pages of the book that contained pictures of a younger looking Talia wrapped in her parent's arms, they were family photos. "He was a very kind and emotional man once, before everything." The happy faces in the photos soon began to change to more somber ones. Where there were once three, there were now two. A newspaper clipping took up a whole page with the title _Villages Destroyed by Gang of Thieves, Many Lost._ "My mother was one of those that died. It changed him… us." As Sarah flipped, the people in the photo began to grow apart in distance, eventually standing at each other side. "We carried on, but were never really living. One day, a man visited our home and spoke to my father of a cause, to restore the balance to the world. He promised that no one would ever have as much power as the people that killed everyone in the villages, the people that killed my mother, ever again. My father joined the man that visited us that day and became his prodigy. When he died, he claimed the cause for himself and formed a League."

"I'm sorry about your mother, but may I ask what this has to do with me."

Talia smiled at Sarah. "My father believes you to be a perfect fit for our cause. You too have lost much by the hands of evil. He has watched you recover, and has seen how strong you are. He has invited you to join the League."

Sarah closed the book and placed it on the desk in front of her. "I am grateful that you saved me, I really am. And I am flattered for the invitation, but I have to decline."

Talia shook her head and began to laugh under her breath. "You don't understand, my dear Sarah. There are two options when given an invitation by the great R'as Al Ghul. You accept, or… I don't think you want to know what happens to those who decline. Let's just say, no one ever lives to tell the tale of when they decided to refuse one of my father's offers."

Sarah began to understand why every time she entered a room she could hear locks on the outside. They were not to keep people out; they were to keep her in. She was not Talia's guest, but her prisoner. "What do you mean I've lost much to the hands of evil?"

"That boat sinking was not a coincidence Sarah, it was planned by someone that greatly hated the Queens. Would you not like to avenge your lost love ones? Take the life that took your Oliver's and that almost took yours?"

Sarah felt a spark of anger ignite in her, an anger she never knew she was capable of feeling. She might have been a prisoner, but she was saved by these people. The people that were now offering her a chance to punish those who took the lives of those she loved. She weighted her options and decided that there was no real choice in the matter. "I accept."

* * *

(Present)

Sarah had rubbed her scar so long that she could no longer feel it. "I trained for a year with Talia and her father. I became an assassin for them and with every kill they told me I was becoming closer to the people that killed you Ollie. The kills were difficult at first. But, with every death I caused I became frozen and numb, until I didn't feel anything anymore." She looked up at the three other people in the room, completely captivated by her story. "Then I found out that you weren't dead and the rest ishistory."

Oliver felt an incredible amount of guilt for what had happened to Sarah. He placed a hand on her shoulder and waited for her to look into his eyes. "I am so sorry that you had to go through that." Sarah nodded and accepted the unnecessary apology. "But, you understand that we have to take him down? It's the only way that we will ever know that he will never be able to get his hands on you again. And if he is somehow connected with Isabel Rochev, there is even more of a reason to do something."

Sarah's face became concerned again, but she understood that Oliver's decision was for her safety. "I would rather die before anything happen to you because of me." She stood and looked at all of the people in the room. "To any of you."

Suddenly, a window popped up on Felicity's screen. She turned and started to type. A picture appeared and she began to read her findings out loud. "I've been searching Isabel's files. They have an industrial grade encryption code that took a lot to get into. The oldest file that I found and the one with the most firewall power protecting it is one called Perseus." Oliver and Diggle turned to look at what she had found. "It's taken a while to crack into this one, but this decryption program finally did. The weird part is that there is nothing but this photo inside it."

Sarah turned towards them and gasped for air. "Oh my god." The three turned to her to see if she was alright, and she walked closer to the photo projected on the screen. "That's Talia… and R'as Al Ghul."

The three looked confused and Oliver looked closer to at it. What he saw is a man hugging a younger version of Isabel Rochev. "Sarah, are you sure. This looks like Isabel with an older gentleman."

Sarah walked backward until reaching the chair she had been sitting on, her mouth still wide open in astonishment. "That is the father-daughter duo that had trained me to join the League. Isabel Rochev is Talia Al Ghul."

"Wow," Felicity was wide eyed and staring at the screen, "I did not expect that coming."

"You probably didn't expect this either," the four turned toward the noise. They grabbed and armed their weapons instinctively. From the shadows of the room emerged a man in a black hood. Raising both hands, as if to show he was not armed, he pulled his hood down. Malcolm Merlyn had risen from the dead and was standing before them.

Felicity nodded, with her eyes fixed on Malcolm. "Yep, didn't expect that either."

**If you guys have any suggestions of what might happen next, feel free to comment. I have an idea, but It's still very rough.**


End file.
